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FROM THE ORIGINAL 



OWNER. C. F. GUNTHER, CHICAGO 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 



PAINTED BY Sm ANTONIO MORO. 



C-hristopher Columbus 



A COMPLETE, COMPENDIOUS NARRATIVE OF HIS VOYAGES, DIS- 
COVERIES, AND GENERAL CAREER, COLLECTED FROM ALL 
AUTHENTIC SOURCES, MAKING A DIGEST OF ALL THE 
FACTS OBTAINABLE FROM EXTANT HISTORI- 
CAL, CRITICAL, BIOGRAPHICAL, AND . . ^"- 
OTHER PUBLICATIONS ON 'J L^ 

THE SUBJECT. ) *i Oo 



BY 



Rev. J. H. LANGILLE, M. A., 

Professor of Natural Sciences and Author of " Our Birds in Their Haunts," etc., etc. 



PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS. 



COPYRIGHT, 

WASHINGTON, D. C, 

1903. 



By J.H.Langille 



<- 



V 



Two OoDles 3wfliv6(3 

AUb 27 1904 
rtooyrtjrtit Eirrv 

CLASS ^ XXo. No. 

7 J- J" jr z- 

OOPY 8 



THE PORTRAIT. 



We have had occasion to modify our opinion as expressed in the 
introduction, page 9, and so adopt the portrait owned by Mr. Gunther, 
of Chicago, which claims to have been painted by Moro, the original 
having been made in court dress for the Queen. A stronger argu- 
ment still is its resemblance to the pen-portrait of Columbus given 
by la Cosa in the margin of his famous map made in 1500. That 
celebrated mariner having a deft hand at drawing, and being inti- 
mate with Columbus, with whom he had sailed in both his first and 
second voyages, could scarcely fail of real portraiture. 



PR EFACE. 

This detailed narrative of the Life of Columbus, fully up to date, 
is not an epitome of intermediate literature, but the result of a careful 
collation of the most reliable contemporary authors as well as of the 
most recent critics. If the work seems to lack references in the form 
of foot-notes, citations properly acknt)wledged abound throughout, 
but are so wrought into the body of the text as to challenge the eye 
of the most careless reader. Then, too, this is not a controversial 
work. It neither propounds new theories nor claims new findings. 
During our recent Columbian excitement, many attacks were made 
on the great hero of discovery: most of them, however, were merely 
the revival of scandals, originated by jealous enemies during his life, 
but regarded as dead and buried already when the first historians 
undertook to record the wonderful achievements of their age, in 
which said Genoise was the leading and commanding figure. 

The claim for the Norsemen as discoverers of the New World, may 
be regarded as having finally settled into its proper niche. For our 
information thereto we are wholly dependent on the sagas, or legends, 
in the records of the Norse Kings, known as the Heimskringlas, 
those referring to Wineland having been reduced to writing more than 
300 years after the events. These interesting documents, some of 
which are on elegant parchment and in admirable chirography, are 
sometimes much exagerated and glossed with superstition. Accord- 
ing to these, the brave Greenlanders first saw the North Atlantic 
Coast of our Continent as sailors lost in a storm, and afterwards made 
several attempts to find out where they had been; but if they did 
christen Cape Cod as Wineland and one or more babies were born 
there, what part of the world was ever the wiser or richer for it? — and 
where are the monuments of their colonization? The Dighton Rock, 
the Newport Tower, and the famous stone pile at Norembaga, have 
all in turn lost their charm as novelties in the Norse controversy, and 
now appear as mere commonplace affairs in the natural order of 
home events. All that can properly be denominated as colonial 
history of the Norsemen has finally taken refuge on the coasts of 
Greenland, where the ruins of churches, dwellings, and certain sub- 
stantial out-buildings are eloquent witnesses of an interesting colony 
long since as wholly of the past as the fossils of the primordial ages 
of geology. Could we know whence the aborigines came we might 
compare their arrival with that of the picturesque crews from Green- 
land, with this difference, however, in favor of the former, namely, 
that they came to stay and to develop a most interesting prehistoric 
career, while the latter have left us only a few lines in the "sagas." 



IV PREFACE. 

How all this aurora borialis coruscation vanishes when contrasted 
with Columbus' immortal voyage across the Sea of Darkness and 
the incalculable results which immediately followed! That voyage 
still stands out in the foreground as the grand scientific triumph of 
the age, and after four hundred years the consensus of the nations 
assigns to the unique Genoise alone, the unveiling to the civilized 
world of one half the globe. Of this notable career, Washington 
Irving gave to the English reader the first grand rehearsal, and while 
later biographers have brought out some fresh shadings of facts, even 
the search-light penetrations of Harrisse have simply confirmed his 
narrative. At this date, however, it is susceptible of improvement, 
(i) The author paraphrases freely in respect to critical points, where 
a verbatim of the original documents would be preferable. (2) In- 
cidents pertaining to topography, physical science and natural history 
— all so necessary to the proper illustration of the narrative — could 
not be given in his day as they are now known. (3) Documents of 
importance in that line have since been discovered. (4) The authen- 
ticity of some of the most important documents on which the career 
of Columbus is based have recently been ably challenged. To follow 
up the almost endless captious and frivolous cavilings in respect to 
our hero would require a critical apparatus about as extensive as the 
Century Dictionary, and in the end the mountain would have labored 
to bring forth a mouse; but teachers, students, and general readers 
need a simple statement of sifted and incontestible facts, without 
any aim at making out our subject either a saint or a pirate, but 
leaving the reader to judge his true merit. 

More than thirty years ago Henry Harrisse challenged the authen- 
ticity of Fernando Columbus's biography of his father, and as this 
document is one of the most detailed and spirited narrators of the 
Admiral, this attack by so eminent an authority was decidedly 
startling; but its arguments have been so thoroughly refuted by such 
authors as Henry Stevens, d'Avizac and Peragallo, that it is no 
longer capable of calling itp any extended controversy. Doubts 
having been raised, however, the general reader may be tempted to 
put an interrogation point at the end of any citation from that work, 
formerly regarded as the corner-stone of American history. It still 
deserves a passing notice. Probably no critic has read Harrisse's 
discussion without feeling that his arguments are decidedly strained, 
captious, and hypercritical — that he has been laboring at a sensa- 
tional crotchet, and that the discrepencies and inaccuracies which 
he so minutely portrays, are no greater than may be found in other 
historical works. 

One would expect that with the misapprehensions and detrac- 
tions in respect to Christopher Columbus, such a son as Fernando 
would naturally and necessarily do something to lift the cloud which 



PREFACE. V 

rested so unjustly upon the last days of his "illustrious father." Ac- 
cordingly, Gonzalo Argote de Molina, who may be said to have been 
almost contemporary, affirms that "a history of the Indies and of its 
conquest by his father, with an itinerary of his voyages," existed in 
manuscript in his day in the library of Fernando Columbus at Seville; 
and Las Casas, in his history of the Indies, cited it and quoted exten- 
sively from it, which was said to have then been in the Spanish lan- 
guage. According to tradition, by means of Luis Columbus, Fer- 
nando's nephew and the Admiral's grandson, this manuscript was 
passed into Genoa to Baliano de Fornari, a distinguished citizen of 
that republic, who, in turn, sent it to Venice for publication. Here 
Ulloa, a noted editor and publisher, issued it in Italian, in 15 71. No 
Spanish text is any longer known, and this Italian version is the only 
early form of that docuinent now extant. That it should not have 
been published in Spain is not at all remarkable, and Italy was the 
natural place for it to make its appearance in the public prints. 

Harrissee's theory, with its final admissions, is itself essentially 
a cancel of his challenge. If, as he surmises, Oliva, a clever author 
at that tima, wrote the Hisiorie" under the eyesof Fernando and by 
means of documents furnished by him," may we not fairly consider 
the former as merely the emanuensis of the latter? 

The most potent factor, however, in its support is the use made of 
it by Las Casas, who, as is well known, was intimately acquainted 
with the whole Columbus family and with Fernando in particular, and 
his frequent and full citations are so notably in accord with UUoa's 
version even, that Peragallo says, that "in collating these two authors 
there emerges a homogenityso perfect that one might be able with 
the terms of the Dominican Father, to find or replace throughout 
two-thirds, the original Spanish text of the historie of Fernando 
Columbus." The narrative throughout has the detailed finish and 
the vivid presentment of personal knowledge and point of fact; and 
if the writer is sometimes in earnest almost to the degree of acrimony 
in his defence, we must remember that he was the devoted son of a 
shamefully outraged father, whose notoriety was astonishing all 
Europe, and who was about to inaugurate the grandest secular era 
in the world's history. 

A book entitled "Toscanclli and Columbus," by Henry Vignaud, 
the secretary of ovir legation in Paris, is so far from accord with re- 
ceived opinion in respect to the line of facts treated by hiin as to de- 
mand something more than a passing notice. The letter purporting 
to be from Toscanilli to Columbus, in 1474, while the latter was in 
Lisbon, and which is supposed to have had a strong influence in con- 
firming nautical notions already forming in the mind of the latter, he 
regards as a fraud, and takes as the point of departure in his narra- 
tive He denies to Columbus the credit of having formed a plan of 



VI PREFACE. 

sailing westward to the Indies as the result of scientific deductions, 
or any definite cosmographical theory, and attributes his daring 
enterprise wholly to the old rumor of the worn-out pilot dying in his 
house at Porto Santo, after having been blown away to the parts 
afterwards known as the New World. The assvimed fraud of the 
Tosconilli letter he attributes to Bartholemew Columbus, the Ad- 
miral's brother, who is supposed to have gotten it up after the dis- 
covery as a defence of the Admiral against the damaging influence 
believed to have arisen from the famous pilot story, and he also in- 
culpates Las Casas as being in complicity with the fraud. The at- 
tributing of Columbus' famous undertaking to the information im- 
parted by the dying pilot, was elaborately worked up by Aaron Good- 
rich in his maliciotis caricature of the famous navigator some time 
ago, but no one has heretofore thought of challenging the authen- 
ticity of the Toscanilli letter, inuch less of attributing it as a fraudu- 
lent production to Bartholemew Columbus, or of suspecting Las 
Casas as being party to any such fraud. This last part of the scheme, 
then, is the only one that can lay claim to originality; and on the 
boldness of the undertaking alone, will the author have to depend 
for his notoriety. 

In the propounding of a view so diametrically opposed to received 
opinion one naturally expects the disclosure of some new document- 
ary evidence, which should be commensurate with so venturesome 
an attack tipon the honor and veracity of great men. This, however, 
is wholly wanting. No new evidence whatever is cited. The author 
simply claims a new reading of the facts familiar to the historic world 
for nearly four hundred years. 

Fernando Columbus cites Toscanelli's letter as a potent factor in 
the cosmographical theory of his father; and Las Casas, in writing 
his " Historia" says that he liadit before him in the Spanish, as also the 
Toscanilli map. Its authenticity, however, is best attested by the copy 
in the Admiral's own hand- writing on the fly-leaf of one of his most 
thoroughly used books still extant in Seville. It has been objected 
that the letter in question is too indifferent in its style of composition 
to have originated with one of Toscanilli's supposed culture; but 
Prof. Wilhelm Meyer, whom German scholars have made the critical 
reference on this subject, reports that there is nothing in the lan- 
guage of that document "inconsistent with the supposition that it 
was written by a humanist." As to the negative plea, that it left no 
trace in the archives of the time, Portuguese writers had every 
motive for being mum on this subject. That their nation, which 
led the world in the great enterprises of nautical discovery, should 
have failed to grasp so magnificent an opportunity as Columbus' 
proposition proved to be, was their one great source of mortification, 
the cloud upon their glory; and if it is claimed that there is no trace 



PREFACE. vii 

left in Florence of any such cosmographical speculations on the part 
of Toscanilli as his supposed letter would imply, it may be noted that 
Hercules D'este, Duke of Ferrera,on hearing the news of Columbus' 
discovery, at once requested his ambassador at Florence to ascertain 
from Toscanilli's nephew, who inherited the papers of that savant, 
whether these contained notes of islands such as were now discovered. 

As to the much vaunted Py/c'f'5 5<ory, Oviedo and Las'^Casas are the 
only contemporary authors who mention it, and neither of them gave 
it credence. Moreover, it is impossible to suppose that the crown 
lawyers, in the fierce law suit of the Columbus heirs for the rights of 
the Admiral, would have failed to cite so damaging an item of evi- 
dence for reducing the Columbian claims had there been any 
semblance of proof for it. 

As to the cosmographical theory of Columbus, it is impossible to 
account for his final success in the Spanish court without admitting 
it. It is well known that the notions of the learned community of 
that day were opposed to him; that he was obliged to pioneer his 
views and to create a sentiment in their support, and that he ulti- 
mately succeeded in winning over alike the monarchs and their 
most powerful advisers. How could this have been done without a 
definite cosmographical theory and an impregnable array of argu- 
ments in its defense? The Pilot story fails utterly to account for 
any such result. 

We may scarcely look to the Toscanilli letter as the "genesis^' of 
Columbus' cosmographical theory, for the fact that he at once seized 
on the letter to Martinez as the occasion for a correspondence with 
the Florentine astronomer, would seem to imply the similarity of the 
views in that letter to those already brooding in his own mind; but 
if he adopted the views of Marinus of Tyre, as Mr. Vignaud says, 
contrary to the views of Ptolemy, which were the atithority of the 
time, and thus stood in line with Toscanilli's letter, why not see in 
this letter at least a motive for his point of departure? 

The fact that Mr. Vignaud finds it necessary to charge so noble a 
character as Bartholemew Columbus with forgery^i! and so saintly a 
personage as Las Casas with complicity with fraud, shows to what 
straits he is driven in his argument. 

Such a work as Mr. Vignaud's may simply confirm the well- 
informed historian in the views it attempts to combat, but for the 
uncritical reader, who can not extricate himself from the confusion 
attending such an array of mere semblances of argument, the effect 
cannot fail to be destructive of confidence in historic verity. ' More- 
over, is it not a pity that those who have deserved well of their coun- 
try and of the world, and were but too poorly rewarded in life, can- 
not be allowed to rest in peace, having at least the honor of a kindly 
remembrance ? 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Introduction, .......--i 

Chapter I, ---------- i^ 

Birthplace — Early Life of Columbus. 
Chapter II, ...__-_-_ 24 

Columbus in Portugal. 
Chapter III, __.._-__. 46 

Columbus and King John of Portugal. 

Chapter IV, ----------53 

Columbus in Spain. 
Chapter V, ----------81 

First Voyage Across the Sea of Darkness. 
Chapter VI, -....---. gy 

The First Landing in the New World. 
Chapter VII, ..._..._. 125 

The Shipwreck and the Fort. 
Chapter VIII, -._-_.--- 140 

Return Hoine of the Discoverer of the Indias. 
Chapter IX, ......--- 163 

The Triumphal Pageant and Procession on His Arrival. 
Chapter X, ---------- 171 

The Pope's Boundary Line Dividing the Two Worlds — 
The Second Voyage. 
Chapter XI, ....._-__ 197 

The New Enterprises of the Colony. 
Chapter XII, ..._...__ 239 

The South Side of Cuba Explored. 
Chapter XIII, __...-__- 271 

Events on Reaching the Town of Isabella. 
Chapter XIV, ...._-... 305 

The Affairs of the New World in Spain. 
Chapter XV, .-..-..-- 328 

The Third Voyage — The Orinoco — -Coasting the South 
American Continent. 
Chapter XVI, ..._..--- 351 

Bartholomew Columbus as Adelantado — Roldan the 
Rebel. 
Chapter XVII, - - 7 -" 385 

Columbus's Return to the Indias — Roldan's Mutiny. 
Chapter XVIII, -.._.---- 411 

Ojeda's Mischief at Zaragua. 
Chapter XIX, .-._.---- 423 

Bobadilla Sends Columbus Home in Chains. 
Chapter XX, _........ 459 

Columbus's Fourth Voyage — Death of Columbus. 



INTRODUCTION. 




|N the present age Christopher Columbus has 
beeu depicted both as a pirate of the high 
seas and as an immaculate saint, the opinions 
of authors generally being graduated at all points 
between these two extremes. In view of this diversity 
of estimate, we propose to do as little as possible in 
the way of interpreting so distinguished a character. 
We prefer to give the facts of his life as recorded by 
those who knew him personally, supplemented by his 
own writings, along with a fair presentation of the 
sentiments and practices of the age in which he lived. 
Thus we shall leave the reader to judge for himself 
when the Admiral was good and when he was bad. 

A biography like this can be made intelligible only 
by first giving an outlook into the bibliographical field 
presenting such a variety of opinions. We will there- 
fore give a brief summar}^ of the principal writers on 
this distinguished adventurer, and on the enterprising 
period which he rendered so illustrious. As Harrisse 
has well said, "Columbus was very far from being in 
his lifetime the important personage he now is ; and 
his writings, which then commanded neither respect nor 
attention, were probably thrown into the waste-basket 
as soon as received." After the first sensation caused 
by the announcement of his discovery, both he and the 
country which he had made known fell into disrepute ; 
and when he died in the care of the good Franciscan 



2 INTR OD UC TION. 

monks at Valladolid, the records simply uoted " the 
said Admiral is dead ; " and the world made so little 
account of the event that, in the two years following, 
editors who were revising and publishing narratives of 
his voyages did not know that he was no longer living. 

It was not till ten years after his death that his first 
biographical sketch appeared, and that in the most in- 
cidental manner. Giustiniani, an Italian bishop, pub- 
lishing a polyglot psalter at Genoa, garnished the mar- 
gin of the nineteenth psalm with a brief outline of Co- 
lumbus's career, which has served to immortalize the 
said bishop's production. Whether he was guilty or 
not of the " thirteen lies " which Fernando Columbus 
so indignantly laid to his charge, he must have had a 
high regard for the subject of his narrative ; for he 
looked upon the Admiral's achievements as a striking 
fulfilment of the prophecies of that psalm, and closed 
his account by saying, " Such was the end of that most 
celebrated man, who, had he lived in the times of the 
Greek heroes, would certainly have been placed among 
the gods." 

Columbus left a school of able and well-trained navi- 
gators to follow up the immense work he had so nobly 
begun. If the grandeur of his first discovery, which 
drew tears from the ^y^s> of learned men, had soon 
passed away, like the wake of his little caravels in the 
storm, other keels were plowing the unknown seas, and 
before the men who knew him well had passed away, 
the vast extent and incalculable resources of the New 
World began to appear. Then, as Humboldt has fitly 
noticed, all departments of literature received a new and 
immense impulse. Historians were ready to record the 



INTR OD UC TION. 3 

wonders of the Indies, the glory of the Spanish sover- 
eigns who had patronized their discovery, and the voy- 
ages of the Admiral who had given his life to the de- 
velopment and realization of the new idea. 

Peter Martyr, an Italian, who had been attracted to 
the Spanish court in the service of education and litera- 
ture, not only referred to Columbus in his numerous 
letters to distinguished men — eight hundred of which 
are preserved — but set his facile pen to work to write a 
regular history of the Indies, in which Columbus was 
allowed an ample space. His work, now known as 
" Decades of the Ocean," was translated into English 
by Richard Eden, in 1555, and may be found in some 
of our largest libraries. 

Andres Bernoldez, curate of Palacios, who had en- 
tertained Columbus for months, as his guest, on his re- 
turn from his second voyage, has given us the result of 
their fireside chats in his history of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella. This work is one of the best authorities on that 
second voyage. The part pertaining to Columbus was 
translated into English by George Ticknor, Esq., and 
published in the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. 
8, pp. 5-68. 

Oviedo, who had been associated with Columbus's 
sons, as page to Prince Juan, wrote a General History 
of the Indies, in which he gave the most respectful at- 
tention to the Admiral. He does not seem to have made 
the most thorough use of the documentary resources 
then available, but his conclusions are wxll made. Nor 
does he seem to have been biased by an undue admira- 
tion for his hero. 

The venerable Eas Casas, missionary to the Indies, 



4 INTR ODUC TION. 

and finally made bishop, also wrote a history of that 
New World, including a biography of Columbus, which 
is considered indispensable to the critical student of his- 
tory. His father and uncle both sailed with the Admi- 
ral on his second voyage, and he himself accompanied 
him on his last and most trying voyage to Central 
America, Having received from his father an Indian 
slave as a servant, while he was a student at the Univer- 
sity of Salamanca, and having been obliged to give him 
up when Isabella returned certain of the enslaved In- 
dians to their native homes, his humane heart was 
opened to their unparalleled sufferings, and he became 
the champion of their cause to the end of his long and 
useful life. 

His great work on the Indies was too honestl}^ writ- 
ten, and gave too full an account of the rascalities of 
the Spaniards in the New World, to admit of its pub- 
lication in Spain till 1875 ; but in manuscript it had 
long been a most important work of reference, and as 
such was made a main reliance by Washington Irving. 
We are indebted to this production for all we know of 
Columbus's Journal of his first vo3'age. Las Casas 
having made a full abstract of it. The Journal itself 
is now no longer known. An almost equally impor- 
tant authority is the work of this bishop, on the second 
and third voyages. He had access to many docu- 
ments and letters which cannot now be found. 

Not the least in importance is the biography of 
Columbus written by his son, Fernando, who professes 
to have recorded onl}^ what he knew personally of his 
father's career, and what he derived from his father's 
writings then before him. The authenticity of this 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

work has recently been challenged by the indefati- 
gable Harrisse ; but he has not succeeded in shaking 
the faith of scholars in that vivid and interesting nar- 
rative, which has much internal evidence in its favor. 
As this son was but four years of age when the Admiral 
went on his first voyage, his personal knowledge covered 
only the latter part of his father's career. The critical 
student, therefore, will find him rather vague and un- 
certain as to that period. In admission of this he says : 
"The Admiral having gained some insight in sciences 
began to apply himself to the sea, and made some 
voyages to the east and west, of which and many other 
things of those his first days I have no perfect knowl- 
edge, because he died at such time as I, being confined 
by filial duty, had not the boldness to ask him to give 
an account of those things ; or, to speak the truth, 
being but young, I was at that time far from being 
troubled with such thoughts." Fernando's biography 
may be read in English in many of our large libraries. 

An indispensable work to the thorough study of Co- 
lumbus is that complete collection of of&cial documents 
of the transactions of the sovereigns of Spain in con- 
nection with his voyages, called the Codex Diplomat- 
icus. It also can be read in English, under the title, 
" Memoirs of Columbus, by the Decurions of Genoa." 

Man}'- other works might be mentioned, but these are 
the most important. 

Recent works, such as the extensive and, on the 
whole, excellent work of Irving, have derived incal- 
culable aid from the great documentary collections of 
Muiioz, and Navarrete, which, we regret to say, are 
not available to English readers ; though Major in his 



6 INTR ODUC TION. 

Select Letters, and Harrisse in his Notes on Columbus, 
liave given us not a few of the documents and letters 
in our own language. 

In the earlier half of this century a querulous 
work, entitled "The So-Called Christopher Colum- 
bus," b}^ Aaron Godrich, appeared as a notable curi- 
osity in literature. Living men may hate each other 
very intensely ; but how a man in his grave nearly four 
hundred years can be so spitefully hated and horribly 
caricatured by a recent inhabitant of this New 
World is inexplicable, to say the least. 

As another extreme, this century has produced a 
school of writers, led by Count Roselly de Lorgues, of 
France, who can discern not so much as a fault or 
foible in this man, chosen of God and upheld by 
miracles, whom the Pope should recognize by saintly 
canonization. But the candid inquirer must admit 
that with all his greatness, and piety according to the 
religion of that period, the Admiral had his fair share 
of faults. 

We' have recently had some very scholarly works on 
Columbus and his age in this country. That by Justin 
Winsor is one of the most critical and exhaustive in its 
ransacking of resources which any country is likely to 
produce on any character; but it is not probable that 
unprejudiced readers will recognize such a very great 
flood of new light in the unfavorable view given by that 
author as to the moral character of the Admiral. And 
many parts of the narrative, in respect to the treatment 
received by the great discoverer from his adopted nation, 
and the unparalleled difficulties he encountered in his 
government of a new world, the humane reader will in- 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

terline with sentiments of compassion and charitable 
judgment. 

Mr. John Fisk's " Discovery of America " contains an 
account of Columbus which every critical student should 
read. It is the result at once of the most thorough re- 
search and the most candid and generous judgment. 

What was the personal appearance of Columbus ? 
How is it that there is so little resemblance in his various 
portraits ? Mr. William Blory Curtis, an acknowledged 
authority on this matter, says : " The most reliable au- 
thorities — and the subject has been under discussion for 
two centuries — agree that there is no tangible evidence 
to prove that the face of Columbus was ever painted or 
sketched or graven during his life. His portrait has 
been painted, like that of the Madonna and those of the 
saints, by many famous artists, each dependent upon 
verbal descriptions of his appearance by contemporane- 
ous writers, and each conveying to the canvas his own 
conception of what the great seaman's face must have 
been ; but it may not be said that any of the portraits 
are genuine, and it is believed that all of them are more 
or less fanciful." 

We have, however, verbal descriptions of his physi- 
ognomy and personal appearance by five distinguished 
personages, who knew him intimately. His son, Fer- 
nando, says : " The Admiral was a well-made man, of 
a height above the medium, with along face, and cheek- 
bones somewhat prominent ; neither too fat nor too lean. 
He had an aquiline nose, light-colored eyes, and a ruddy 
complexion. In youth he had been fair, and his hair 
was of a light color, but after he was thirty years old it 
turned white. In eating and drinking he was an ex- 



g INTR ODUC TION. 

ample of sobriety, as well as simple and modest about 
his person." 

Oviedo, a distinguished Spanish historian, who had 
seen Columbus at different times during his youth and 
early manhood, says : " Columbus was a man of honest 
parentage and sober life. He had a noble bearing, good 
looks, and a height above the medium, which was well 
carried. He had sharp eyes, and the other parts of his 
visage were well proportioned. His hair was a bright 
red, his complexion flushed and marked with freckles, 
His language was easy, prudent, showing a great genius, 
and he was gracious in manner." 

Bernaldez, a devout ecclesiastic, curate of Palacios, 
and biographer of the king and queen, knew Colum- 
bus well, having entertained him as a guest for quite a 
time, just after his second voyage. He describes him 
as " a man of fine stature, strong of limb, with an elon- 
gated visage, fresh and ruddy of complexion, marked 
with freckles. He had a noble bearing, was dignified 
of speech, and bore a kindly manner." 

Peter Martyr, a distinguished man in learning and 
literature at the court of Spain during the solicitations 
and voyages of Columbus, and Las Casas, the great 
missionary to the Indians and the humane advocate of 
their cause, both describe the Admiral in language very 
similar to the statements quoted. The latter tells us 
that his keen eyes were gray, that his countenance was 
sad, and that, while he spoke fervently and fluently, he 
was inclined to be reticent. Naturall}^ of an impulsive 
temper, his anger rose quickly ; but all his moods and 
operations of mind were tempered with a high sense of 
justice. 



INTR OD UC TION. ^ 

Of all the portraits claiming to represent Columbus, 
the Giovian group is best sustained by criticism. It is 
known that Paolo Giovio, archbishop of Nocera, whose 
wealth was sufficient to indulge his literar}^ and artistic 
tastes, and who was a cotemporary of the Admiral, had 
a portrait of him in the magnificent art collection of his 
palace on the banks of Lake Como. Five paintings and 
one engraving,^ all resembling each other quite per- 
ceptibl}^, lay claim to be the original Giovian portrait, 
and they all conform sufficiently to the descriptions above 
quoted. It would seem that either some one of them 
is the original from which all the rest have been derived, 
or the prototype from which they have been taken is 
lost. 

Many other portraits lay claim to authority, repre- 
senting the physiognomies of nearly all the nationali- 
ties of Western Europe. It is pretty certain that any 
portrait with a mustache, or beard, or a ruff about the 
neck is of doubtful likeness, and certainly those which 
conform most closely to the descriptions given by writers 
who knew him are most entitled to our confidence. 

The Lotto portrait, just commanding a good deal of 
attention, is not altogether unlike the Giovian type, and 
has many points worthy of consideration ; but it does 
not promise to take the place of that very interesting 
group. 

Should Columbus be considered the rightful discov- 
erer of America ? Is the quadricentennial exhibition 
about to be held by the Republics of America, and, in 
fact, by the civilized world, a grand reality^ or is it a 

^ See Mr. Curtis's very interesting article in the Cosmopolitan, ^^nwv^ry 
and February, 1892. 



I o INTR OD UC TION. 

magnificent sham ? A good deal has been written and 
said on this point during the last few years ; but the 
fact that everything is moving harmoniously toward 
that Great Western City in which the World's Fair is 
to take place shows plainly enough that men in general 
are still holding to the old opinion. Columbus is 
looked upon to-day as the revealer of this half of the 
globe. 

Not to speak of the claims put forth for the Egyp- 
tians, the Canaanites, and the Chinese as the original 
discoverers and colonizers of America, we will begin 
with those of the Norsemen. That these brave sea- 
men made various voyages to the North Atlantic coast 
in the last part of the tenth and the first part of the 
eleventh century is now too clear to admit of a doubt ; 
but can those voyages, which left no trace of colouixa- 
tion in the land itself, revealed nothing to the world, 
and added nothing to the convenience and commerce 
of the world, — can such voyages be properly called 
a discovery? The vague accounts found in the Sagas, 
of the lands discovered by chance by the Norsemen, 
supposed to refer to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and 
the New England coast, will not soon take the place 
of the well-authenticated voyages of Columbus, con- 
ducted by a strictly scientific method, and obviously 
not originated by intelligence gained from Iceland. 

Between this period and the date of the first voyage 
of Columbus, says R. H. Major, "the coast of America 
is reported to have been visited by the Arabians of the 
Spanish peninsula, the Welsh, the Venetians, the Por- 
tuguese, and also by a Pole in the service of Denmark." 
The vagfaries of these claims we have not time to dis- 



INTR OD UC TION. 1 1 

cuss in a work which is supposed to appeal to the com- 
mon sense of the people rather than to hair-splitting 
speculations. 

In view of all the different parties claiming to have 
seen, by the chance of overwhelming storms or other- 
wise, the shores of America before the landing of Colum- 
bus, perhaps we would better end the debate as to pri- 
ority of discovery by concluding that the aborigines first 
found the Western Continent, and rest our claim in 
favor of Columbus in the fact that he gave Amej-ica to 
the zuorld ! 

Just here we are reminded forcibly of the words of 
Peter Mart3^r, who says : " The reverend and thankful 
antiquity was accustomed to esteem those men as gods 
by whose industry and magnanimity such lands and 
regions were discovered as were unknown to their pre- 
decessors. But unto us, having only one God, whom 
we honor in triplicit}^ of person, this resteth, that albeit 
we do not worship that kind of men with divine honor, 
yet we do reverence them, and worthily marvel at their 
noble acts and enterprises." 




CHAPTER I. 

THE BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 

ENOA, more ancient than Rome, and one of 
the most charmingly located cities in the 
world, is the birthplace of Christopher Co- 
lumbus. Though much disputed formerly, this is now 
made sure beyond a doubt. Henry Harrisse, who may 
be called the ultimate authority on such points, in the 
life of the Admiral, says :^ " Columbus's father, Domenico, 
who, let it be said, lived long enough to hear of the 
great discovery accomplished by his son, since he died 
in 1494, called himself a Genoese in four deeds executed 
at Savona, February and June, 1473, August, 1484, and 
November, 1491. So did Columbus's youngest brother, 
Giacomo, in an instrument in writing, dated September, 
1484. These documents, all quoted b}^ Tiraboschi, are 
in the notarial archives of Genoa. Among his con- 
temporaries, Giustiniani, Bernaldez, Gallo, Senarega, 
Cabot, Geraldinus, and the compilers of the PcBsi 
novame?tti and Itinerareum^ all call him a Genoese." 

Again, page 70, after discussing at length the claims 
for other places, he says : " To close this exciting debate 
we propose to quote Columbus himself, thinking that 
his opinion on the subject is entitled to some considera- 
tion. In the will or deed dated February, 1498, con- 
ferring sundry titles, a majorat^ &c.^ upon his descend- 
ants, he sa3^s in so many words : ' I was born in Genoa ; ' 

* Notes on Coliimbue, p. 63. 



14 DATE OF COLUMBUS'S BIRTH. 

and speaking of that city he adds : ' I came from there, 
and there was I born.'" 

But to ascertain the date of Columbus's birth has been 
still more difficult. Bernaldez, the cura de los Palacios, 
who knew Columbus well, says in his quaint way : 

" And this same Admiral Christopher Columbus, of 
a marvellously honored memory, a native of the province 
of Milan, the discoverer of the Indies, being in Valla- 
dolid, in the month of May, died in a good old age, being 
seventy years old or thereabouts. Our Lord pardon 
him. Amen." 

Therefore, Irving, Humboldt, and others put his birth 
at 1435- Others, by an arrangement of inferences from 
some of Columbus's letters, making a supposed connec- 
tion which is not very conclusive, have placed the date 
at 1 45 5-' 5 6. These two dates, about twenty years apart, 
are both at variance with certain well-authenticated 
statements in Columbus's letters. 

An examination of the notarial records by the Mar- 
quis Stagliano, apart from all historical statements, 
would place the date of the birth of the great discoverer 
somewhere from October 29th, 1446, to October 29th, 
145 1. Henry Harrisse thinks it can be fixed between 
March 15th, 1446, and March 20th, 1447. And this 
date accords precisely with those quite definite state- 
ments in Columbus's letters which were so notably at 
variance with the dates above given. In his book of the 
first voyage (1492) he says : " I was upon the sea twenty- 
three years without being off it any time worth the 
speaking of." Again he says " that he took to the sea 
at fourteen years of age and ever after followed it." 
We know that he left Lisbon in 1484, and until 1492 was 



DATE OF COLUMBUS'S BIRTH. 



15 



soliciting aid for his voyage, and so was not on tlie sea 
during that time. Subtracting the sum of 23 and 14 
from 1484, and allowing some months more or less at 
each end of the periods covered by these figures, we 
easily get the date of Harrisse, which includes that of 
Stagliano — namely, 1446-4'/, or thereabout. 

But we can make out still another line of confirma- 
tion of the above date. In 1501 he wrote to the 
Spanish sovereigns, " I went to sea very young and have 
continued it to this day." Now this term, very young, 
is, as we know, 14 years. He then says : " It is now 
forty years that I have been sailing to all those parts 
at present frequented." Here the word "sailing" is 
used more generally, and evidently includes the years 
he spent in Spain in the interests of his first voyage. 
Add then 40 and 14, and subtract the sum from 1501, 
and we are back again to 1447 by exact figures ; and 
by allowing a few months at both ends of the periods 
given wx might easily make it 1446.^ 

Here, then, by three independent lines of calcula- 
tion, we have the birth of Columbus at i446-'47. And 
let it be noted that these lines, one by means of the 
notarial acts, and two from the internal evidence of 
the Admiral's own letters, are the most trustworthy 
possible. Also, as the language of Bernaldez, on 
which the earliest date has been founded, is not very 
definite, and as Columbus turned gray j^oung, at 
thirty years of age, and must have been much 
broken by his life of extreme hardships and great 
anxiety, his age at sixty might easily have been mis- 

^ In the famous Memoirs of Columbus published by the Decurions ot 
Genoa, the date of Iiis birth is given as eithei' 1446 or 1447. 



1 6 PARENTAGE AND HOME. 

taken for seventy ; but the same sort of mistake could 
scarcely kave covered the twenty years from fifty to 
sevent}^^ 

This date, as given above, accords with that given 
by Muiioz, whose careful research and noble candor 
entitle him to special credit.^ 

Genoa has many statues of distinguished personages 
and heroes, along the line of her great antiquity; 
but that which the traveller from every part of the 
world stops to gaze upon is the imposing figure of Co- 
lumbus, elevated on its high and elaborate pedestal, 
in the public promenade. Piazza de Acqua, with the 
statue of America kneeling at his feet. Scarcely could 
this distinguished man of modern times have opened his 
eyes upon a more delightsome landscape or a prouder 
city. But he does not seem to have cared particularly for 
the forest-clad slopes and rock}?- peaks of the Apen- 
nines, curving like an amphitheatre around Genoa, 
nor for the snowy peaks of the Alps beyond. He 
looked out upon the sea, whence came the ships from 
all parts of the known world ; and the varied costumes 
and the jargon of many languages in the harbor 
were, to his boyhood curiosity, a revelation of the 
wide world beyond the walls and moles of his native 
city. He probabl}^ never saw the inside of one of the 

1 On some of the points above given see R. H. Major's Select Letters of 
Columbus, pp. 33 and 34 of Introduction. 

After all, it must be admitted that these lines of evidence concerning the 
date of Columbus's birth, though highly probable, are not absolutely conclu- 
sive. If, for instance, the 40 years spent on the sea should not include the 
7-8 years of sojourn in Spain, the date implied by Bernaldez, and adopted 
by Irving and Humboldt, would be sufficiently accurate. 

® The figure 28, as representing the age of Columbus when he came to 
Spain, and which is found in one of his letters, is evidently a mistake. 



PARENTAGE AND HOME. 17 

many marble palaces which looked out so proudly on 
the harbor, nor could he have been very familiar with 
the great centres of commerce, representing in Genoa 
the arts and products of the civilized world. He was 
the son of a wool-carder^ — in fact, belonged to an an- 
cestry of wool-carders ; and he grew up amidst the 
incessant industries and careful economies of frugal 
life. We are not to associate his childhood, how- 
ever, with a pinching poverty or the squalor of low 
life. His father, Domeuico Columbo — Columbus is the 
latiniiicd form of the name — probably began married 
life in his own house, in the wool-weavers' quarter in 
Genoa, having also a shop and an independent busi- 
ness on a moderate scale. Possibly he had a small 
cloth factory with a journeyman and an apprentice. 

A careful examination of the notarial acts shows that 
he moved to Savona in 1470. Here he and his son 
Christopher were known as weavers ; but the latter dis- 
appears from the notarial records after 1473. Domen- 
ico kept a house of entertainment and speculated in 
small landed properties. But fortune does not seem to 
have smiled on this combination of enterprises, for in 
after years he needed Christopher's aid, and at least 
one of his lots remained unpaid for at his death. Dur- 
ing the fifteen years spent here he lost his wife, whose 
maiden name was Susannah Fontanarossa, and whom 
he married in the country lying east of Genoa, called 
Bisagno. 

Such, as nearly as we can judge, was the youthful 



* In the present state of manufacturing, \soo\-carding and woo\-combing 
are very different processes. Whether the Columbuses were wool-carders 
or wool-combers, is very difficult to determine. 



1 8 FRENCH FIR A TE S NO T HIS REL A TIONS, 

home apd sucli were tlie circumstances of young Cliris- 
toplier, the oldest of four sons, of whom two, Bartholo- 
mew and James (Diego in Spanish) , were intimately as- 
sociated with his fortunes in the New World ; the other, 
John Pelligrino, was of delicate health and died in early 
manhood. He had also one sister, named Bianchinetta, 
whose husband, Bavarillo, was a cheesemonger, or some 
say a butcher. They had one child. 

Probably a little more light on the humble home of 
Domenico Columbo would disclose a family of no ordi- 
nary moral and intellectual status , for such a trio as 
the Columbus brothers known in the New World could 
not have sprung from an indifferent household. It has 
been customary to take a somewhat broad view of the 
ancestral line, showing a view of intellect and a bold 
heroism as a more or less common inheritance for sev- 
eral generations. A supposed relative of the same name, 
presumably a great-uncle, had distinguished himself, 
sometimes as master of his own squadron, sometimes as 
an admiral in the service of the republic of Genoa. 
Also a nephew of his, Colombo el Mezo, who commanded 
a squadron under the French king against Naples, is 
described as " a famous corsair, so terrible for his deeds 
against the infidels that the Moorish mothers used to 
frighten their children in the cradle with his name." 

These mariners, noted among the nations as pirates, 
were well known under the French flag and were called 
Casanove or Coulon.^ " To determine the exact rela- 
tionship between the various French and Italian Colom- 
bos or Coulons of the fifteenth century would be hazard- 
ous. It is enough to say that no evidence that stands a 

^ Sometimes given Cassaneuve. 



FERNANDO NOTWITHSTANDING. 19 

critical test remains to connect these famous mariners 
with the line of Christopher Columbus." So concludes 
Justin Winsor, after the most critical examination of 
the latest authorities, including the searching works of 
Harrisse. And surely neither of these authors can be 
charged wath partiality in favor of Columbus. It is the 
confusing of the great discoverer with these noted cor- 
sairs above referred to, and making him responsible for 
at least sharing in their piratical excursions, which has 
marked him down as a "//r^/^." 

It is Columbus's own son, Fernando, who is particu- 
larly responsible for initiating this noted biographical 
blunder. Confessing ignorance as to the early part of 
his father's life, he adopted this tale of his piratical re- 
lationships on the authority of one Sabillicus, who is 
likewise the sole voucher for the startling story concern- 
ing the escape of Columbus from the burning galleys in 
the Venetian conflict, on an oar. This piratical encoun- 
ter, well authenticated in the state papers of Spain and 
Venice, took place in 1485, when Columbus had already 
left Lisbon, and must have been too much enwrapped in 
his great scheme to be engaged in any such trifling and 
predatory affair. 

Fernando, having grown up amidst courtiers, was evi- 
deutly sensitive as to any insinuation concerning the 
humble origin of his father, and would rather associate 
him with first-class pirates than with an ancestry of 
wool-carders. " No great acumen, however, is neces- 
sary," says Harrisse, " to discover that Fernando, as re- 
gards his ancestors, either in the direct line or other- 
wise, had very vague and unreliable notions. For in- 
stance, he includes in his pedigree the procurator Junius 



20 COLUMBUS A SELF-MADE MAN. 

Colonus, who lived under the Emperor Claudius. Now, 
Colonus was not his name, but Cilo. He then states 
that his father belonged to the family of a celebrated 
admiral in the service of the king of France, often called 
Colon or Colombo ; but the fact is that this Colombo 
was simply a Frenchman by the name of Caseneuve." 

Equally useless would it be to try to connect our 
hero with the more honorable families of the Colombos 
of Genoa and vicinity, since Harrisse finds trace of at 
least two hundred persons of that name in Liguria 
alone, in the time of Columbus, who were in nowise con- 
nected with him. One is forcibl}^ reminded of a cer- 
tain saying in the " History " attributed to his son 
Ferdinand. " I think it better," says he, " that all the 
honor be derived to us from his person than to go 
about to inquire whether his father was a merchant 
or a man of quality, who kept his hawks and hounds." 

Christopher Columbus must be ranked with self- 
made men, who find their schools and schoolmasters 
mainly in the course of events, and acquire rich stores 
of systematic knowledge solely by dint of personal 
effort. But his school advantages in boyhood must 
have been fair, — must at least have laid the founda- 
tions for the wonderful superstructures of both gen- 
eral and special knowledge and information reared in 
after years. " It has of late been ascertained," says 
Winsor, " that the wool-combers of Genoa established 
local schools for the education of their children, and 
the young Christopher may have had his share of 
their instruction in addition to whatever he picked up 
at his trade, which continued, as long as he remained 
in Italy, that of his father." One who read so ex- 



THE BOr BEFORE THE MAST. 21 

tensively as did Columbus must have read easily and 
with pleasure ; and the samples of his handwriting 
which have come down to us would indicate a facile 
and most graceful penmanship. If the various pen- 
drawings attributed to him are authentic, and they 
certainly date far back and are unique, he must have 
had, as Winsor says, " a deft hand, too, in making a 
spirited sketch with a few strokes." The various ac- 
counts of his making maps and charts, even as a 
means of livelihood, necessarily imply skill in draw- 
ing and probably in coloring. That he had a fair use 
of Latin, that he was a practical mathematician, es- 
pecially a nautical astronomer, and not only abreast 
but beyond the geographical attainments of his time, 
is obvious. That he deligJiied in geography and all 
branches of knowledge related to navigation is a 
necessary inference from the facts and course of his 
life. How much of all this varied accumulation of 
knowledge is to be attributed to the taste of university 
life at Pavia, ascribed by the ''''History^'' to his tender 
3^ears of, sa}', from ten to twelve, must, at present, re- 
main a myster3\ Certain it is, according to his own 
statement, that he began a seafaring life at the mere 
boyhood period of fourteen. Imagine him then — "red- 
haired," " with a ruddy complexion" marked with the 
distinct freckles which a strong sea-air would depict 
on such a face, with a trace, perhaps, of that inflamma- 
tion of the eyes which troubled him so seriously in 
after years, slender, active and enthusiastic, and we 
shall no doubt have a fairly correct picture of this boy 
before the mast, bound for any part of the Mediter- 
ranean, or even the wide and unknown sea outside the 



22 



EARL r LIFE A T SEA. 



straits. Pictures of wild adventures on the sea fed his 
ardent imagination, and that spirit of discovery which 
was the characteristic of the age must have made the 
blood tingle in his veins. Not only the severity of the 
elements, — the storm and the tempest — did he antici- 
pate, for had he not listened to many a bloody tale of 
piracy, then so common as to be almost legalized ? If 
he were on board the ship of some line of traf&c, he 
would know that whole fleets of marauders might 
await her, and that there might be sea-fights as terri- 
ble as naval conflicts in regular warfare. Indeed the 
ship would be heavily armed and equipped, and every 
sailor would need the spirit and skill of the soldier. 
As there was no very nice distinction in those days 
between proper naval enterprise and privateering, and 
piracy, his judgment would not discriminate as to 
voyages and skirmishes which would be far from rep- 
utable in the clearer light of these days. 

But it must be left to the imagination to fill out the 
biographical details from now on till Columbus appears 
again as a wool-weaver in company with his father at 
Savona, from 1470 -'73, for the few striking incidents 
which have been wont to come into line to fill up the 
gap here, formerly supposed to be much larger than it 
now appears in the light of recent findings, are likely to 
prove doubtful, to say the least, as far as their relation 
to Columbus is concerned. 

In a letter of Columbus, quoted by his son, he says : 
" It happened to me that King Rene, whom God has 
taken to himself, sent me to Tunis to take the galeasse 
called Fernaiidina^ and being near to the island of St. 
Peter, by Sardinia, I was told there were two ships and 



THE EXPEDITION FOR RENE. 23 

a barack with the said galeasse, which discomposed my 
men, and they resolved to go no further, but to return 
to Marseilles for another ship and more men ; and I, 
perceiving there was no going against their wills with- 
out some contrivance, yielded to their desires, and, chang- 
ing the point of the needle, set sail when it was late, and 
next morning at break of day we found ourselves near 
Cape Carthagena, all aboard thinking we had certainly 
been sailing for Marseilles." 

It is difficult for critics to place this event anywhere 
in the life of Rene without making Columbus too young 
to command a ship, unless we place the date of his birth 
earlier than the notarial records or the clearest state- 
ments in his letters would imply. 

It must be said, however, that though Rene retired 
from active life too soon to allow the above incident a 
convenient date in the early history of Columbus, he 
lived till 1480. Possibly some incident connected Avith 
the fortunes of his regal famih^, and in which he may 
have felt an interest, would account for the above state- 
ment. 

In the Admiral's biography, given as an introduction 
to the famous Codex Diplomaticus, as published by the 
Decurions of Genoa, this expedition for Rene is supposed 
to be in 1473. 

Is it in this period of the life of Columbus we are to 
place that trip to the Grecian archipelago, when, in the 
island of Chios, he saw the mastic gathered ? 




CHAPTER n. 

COLUMBUS IN PORTUGAL. 

HE years spent by Columbus in Portugal must 
have been most important as a preparation 
for bis momentous undertaking in after years. 
Here, surely, did be find his school and his school- 
masters. In order, therefore, to understand this period 
of his life we must recall what had been going on in 
Portugal for some time, and what was still in progress, 
as well as what was yet to be accomplished. Neither 
can we account for Columbus and his grand concep- 
tion of a western route to India, unless we shall have 
first made the acquaintance of the noble Prince Henry 
of Portugal and his persevering enterprises on the 
west coast of Africa. This son of the Portuguese 
king, John I., and the English princess, Philippa, 
daughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, was 
born March 4th, 1394. While yet a mere youth he dis- 
tinguished himself on the Barbary coast, in the wars 
waged by his father against the Moors, and resulting in 
the conquest of Ceuta in 14 15. While on this expedi- 
tion, by means of his conversations with the Moors, he 
conceived of great discoveries to be made on the west 
coast of Africa ; and this thought lodged in his youthful 
mind became the germ of one of the greatest enterprises 
of all time. Cape Nam, well up on the northwest coast 
of Africa, was the farthest known point. The name, 
which meant " W6'/," was forcibly played upon in the old 



PRINCE HENRT. 



25 



proverb of that day : " He who goes to Cape Not will 
either return or not." That is, if he did not become ter- 
rified and come back he would surely be lost. 

Immediately after the African conquest Prince Henry 
established a sort of nautical school at Sagres, near Cape 
Vincent, on the southwest coast of Spain ; and from 
thence sending out ships commanded by the ablest sea- 
men he could find, he undertook to solve the problem of 
Cape Not. His college and observatory were a sort of 
factory or workshop, in which maps, charts, and nauti- 
cal instruments of all kinds were made and constantly 
improved. An improved use of the compass was now 
introduced into Europe, and the astrolabe, the original 
of the more modern quadrant, became common. 

In time, notwithstanding the old proverb. Cape Not 
was passed, and the ships pushed on to Cape Bojador 
which means the out-stretcher. This now became the 
point of danger which no one dared to pass. Its desert 
coast, lashed by a tremendous surf and studded with 
perilous rocks, stood like a mysterious barrier forbidding 
further progress. Then, did not philosophers teach that 
just beyond this cape and underneath the equator the 
waters boiled under the blazing sun, and that no living 
thing could pass this line which divided the two hemi- 
spheres ? After the failure of man}^ a persevering effort, 
Gil Hannes finallj^ returned in triumph, to the unuttera- 
ble joy of seamen and cosmographers. With an unpar- 
alleled heroism he had doubled the storm}^ cape and 
satisfied the world that the sea was navigable and that 
men might live under the equator. Ver}^ soon, then, 
the equatorial line itself would be reached. 

Now the noble prince was much encouraged and be- 



26 PRINCE HENRT. 

lieved more than ever that the geographical ideas of 
Ptolemy aud of Hipparchus before him, making the At- 
lantic a vast inland sea, surrounded by a southern junc- 
tion of Africa and Asia, were incorrect ; and that Africa 
was a continent, around which Budoxus might have 
sailed from the Red Sea, and Hanno, the Carthaginian, 
from the Straits of Gibraltar, as had been affirmed hy 
the ancients.^ Thus, in 1434, when Henry was about 
at life's meridian, he had fairly established the success 
of his great enterprise, and put to silence the mutterings 
of the Portuguese nation, who had about concluded that 
it was but the part of folly to spend so much precious 
time and money in an undertaking which progressed so 
slowly and brought such poor returns. 

Now that such visions of success rose before him on 
the unknown continent, he applied to the Pope to grant 
to Portugal all the territory she might discover from 
Cape Bojador to the Indies. Meanwhile, in passing 
down the coast, Porto Santo, Madeira, and the Azores 
had been brought to light. In 1445 one of the Prince's 
vessels made the immense voyage to Cape Verde. Five 
years later the Cape Verde Islands were discovered, and 
when Henry died, in 1460, his fleets had reached Sierra 
Leone. He was every way a noble man, concentrating 
a life-work in one great purpose, and establishing a new 
and most important era in the world's history. 

Now Portugal was not only renowned for her enter- 
prise in navigation, but was developing a most lucra- 
tive business in gold-dust, ivory, and slaves. Men had 
long since learned to strive for golden gains, but 

1 Whether these old-time heroes did perform this feat in navigation or not 
is still a question. 



KING JOHN II. 27 

the glorious light of human freedom had not yet 
dawned. 

Prince Henry had thoroughly aroused the nation ; 
the new enterprises which he had inaugurated had be- 
come well established, and so King Alphonso, his 
nephew, and afterward John II., continued to push 
their fleets down the coast of the Dark Continent 
until Vasco de Gama turned the Cape of Good Hope 
in 1497. Thus in about eighty years the Portuguese 
had explored this coast of some five thousand miles. 

Meanwhile Lisbon had become the centre and resort 
of cosmographers and navigators. Among others to be 
found here was Bartholomew Columbus, said to have 
been engaged in making globes, maps, charts, and nau- 
tical instruments. But how, and when, did Christo- 
pher Columbus first make his appearance in this his 
most convenient place in all the wide world? We 
might easily conceive of his coming here by a mental 
and moral gravitation, but what says the record ? 

His son Fernando, in his well-known biography of 
his father, brings him to these parts by means of a 
striking incident, as follows : " Whilst the Admiral 
sailed with the aforesaid Columbus the younger, which 
was a long time,^ it fell out that, understanding the 
before-mentioned four great Venetian galleys were 
coming from Flanders, they went out to seek and found 
them beyond Lisbon, about Cape St. Vincent, which is in 
Portugal, wdiere, falling to blows, they fought furiously 
and grappled, beating one another from vessel to vessel 
with utmost rage, making use, not only of their weap- 

^ We see, here, that the author was fully of the conviction that his father 
had been largely trained under " Columbus the pirate " in his early adven- 
tures at sea. 



28 A CONFLA GRA TION A T SEA. 

ons, but artificial fire-works ; so that after they had 
fought from moruing till evening, and abundance were 
killed on both sides, the Admiral's ship took fire, as 
did a great Venetian galley, which being fast grappled 
together with iron hooks and chains, used to this pur- 
pose by seafaring men, could neither of them be re- 
lieved because of the confusion there was among them, 
and the fright of the fire, which in a short time was so 
increased that there was no other remedy but for all 
that could to leap into the water, so to die sooner rather 
than bear the torture of the fire. But the Admiral 
being an excellent swimmer, and seeing himself two 
leagues or a little farther from land, laying hold of an 
oar which good fortune oifered him, and sometimes 
resting upon it, sometimes swimming, it pleased God, 
who had preserved him for greater ends, to give him 
strength to get to the shore, but so tired and spent 
with the water that he had much ado to recover him- 
self. And because it was not far from Lisbon, where 
he knew there were many Genoese, his countrymen, 
he went away thither as fast as he could, where, being- 
known by them, he was so courteously received and 
entertained that he set up house and married a wife in 
that city." ^ 

A noted incident, corresponding in every way to the 
above account, is known to have occurred in 1485. 

^ Concerning this same adventure Fernando Columbus sajs : "Jerome 
Donate was sent embassador from Venice into Portugal to return thanks in 
the name of the republic to King John II., because he had clothed and re- 
lieved all the crew belonging to the aforesaid great galleys, which were coming 
from Flanders, relieving them in such a manner as they were enabled to re- 
turn to Venice, they having been overcome by the famous corsair, Columbus 
the younger, near Lisbon, who had stripped and turned them ashore." 



COLUMBUS THE PIRATE. 29 

Rawdon Brown, in his " Calendar of State Papers in 
the Archives of Venice," gives the diplomatic corre- 
spondence between France and Venice, the latter 
demanding restitntion from the former, under whose 
auspices the piratical expedition had been made. But 
as this incident occurred after Columbus had left Por- 
tugal, there must be some mistake in Fernando's quota- 
tion, or there must have been another previous incident, 
so similar as to be almost identical in character. As 
Justin Winsor says : "It may yet be discovered that 
it was from some earlier adventure that the buoyancy 
of an oar took him to the land." 

Bernaldez says Columbus came to Lisbon in order 
to avail himself of the new facts concerning the African 
coast, that he might thereby improve his maps. It is 
evidently incorrect to associate Christopher Columbus 
with the noted piratical encounter between the French 
corsair and the Venetian galle3^s off Cape St. Vincent 
in 1485. The following letter from Ferdinand and 
Isabella to the King of England, November 5th, 1485, 
reads : " Columbus, Vice- Admiral and Commander of 
the fleet of the King of France, has captured, off the 
coast of Portugal, four Venetian vessels, laden with a 
great quantity of merchandise, belonging to Spanish 
subjects. As the capture is contrary to the treaties 
with France, Columbus has preferred to go to an 
English port, in order to divide the booty there. The 
King is requested to arrest the said Columbus and to 
restore the goods to their owners." 

This was about the time when Christopher Columbus 
appeared before the Spanish monarchs to ask aid in 
his great undertaking. What would have been his 



30 COL UMB US AT LISB ON. 

chance for a hearing had they been able to associate 
him with this annoying encounter just taken place off 
St. Vincent ? 

By whatever accident, circumstance, or influence 
Columbus came to Lisbon, certain it is that he could 
not have found in all the world so fit a place for the 
conception of his momentous undertaking. Would 
not the entire Portuguese nation be in sympathy with 
the achievements of Prince Henry ? Would not Lisbon 
be the very heart-throbbing centre of the vast thoughts 
of discovery which now^ moved the thinking world ? 
Here the future Admiral would come into contact and 
communion with the greatest minds then engaged in 
nautical and cosmographical studies. Here he would 
converse with the heroes of the ocean, who had seen 
and explored the coasts of the wonderful continent, 
and had gazed on the new stars of the southern skies. 
Would not his brother Bartholomew, who had an affec- 
tion for him, amounting almost to veneration, do what 
he could to retain him as a companion and partner in 
his business ? Here were also bankers from Genoa, 
who were ready to aid their countryman financially in 
time of need. A good brother, kind friends, a busi- 
ness ready to hand, money if needed, and a social 
atmosphere congenial to one's peculiar tastes — what 
more could the tempest-tossed stranger ask as a reason 
for anchorage ? And here Christopher Columbus did 
cast anchor ; joining hands, perhaps, with Bartholomew, 
not only in cartography and manufacture of nautical 
instruments, but possibly in cop3dng rare manuscripts 
not yet in print, and in buying and selling books. 
And for all such commodities this must have been 
one of the best markets in the world. 



DONA FILIPA PERESTRELLO. 



31 



True to his religious convictions while thus in a 
strange land, he went every day to worship in the 
chapel of the Convent of All Saints. Here his usual 
good fortune awaited him. Among the ladies of rank 
in some way connected with this institution was Dona 
Filipa Perestrello, daughter of a late distinguished 
navigator under Prince Henr}^ She possessed no 
great fortune, for her father had not found the coloni- 
zation and governing of Porto Santo a very profitable 
enterprise. This island, of volcanic origin, black, bar- 
ren, and treeless, probably was not very amenable to 
culture ; and the governor in stocking it, having 
introduced tame rabbits, they multiplied so rapidly 
as to eat down every green thing, and obliged the 
good man to spend most of his remaining life in a 
fruitless effort to subdue them.^ This gentleman hav- 
ing been an Italian, there must have been a natural 
bond of sympathy between his daughter and the 
Genoese stranger. The story is short, — they married, 
lived happily, and had a son, Diego, who became heir 
and successor to his father's fortunes. 

Residing during the early days of his married life 
with his mother-in-law,^ he must have found her quite 
congenial, for she entertained him with accounts of the 
voyages of her husband, deceased, and gave him full 

^ Darwin, in his Origin of Species, notes how Perestrello's rabbit, littering 
on the voyage and being landed at Porto Santo with her young, soon proved 
the rapid multiplication of species in the; absence of enemies or adverse cir- 
cumstances; and that the rabbits, fairly swarming all over the island, de- 
voured every green and succulent thing, almost converting it into a desert. 
Prince Henry's biographers tell us that his enemies seized upon this 
calamity as an evidence against the expenses of colonization, since these 
islands were evidently not created for men, but only for beasts. 

'' This lady is now supposed to have been the second wife of Perestrello. 



32 COL UMB US AT POR TO SANTO. 

access to tlie charts and records he had left. Pedro 
Correo, who had married his wife's sister, was one of 
the noted navigators of his time, and had once been 
governor of Porto Santo. Intercourse with him must 
have been stimulating and instructive. 

It is most interesting to note how all this is pre- 
cisely in the line of what proved to be the ruling 
thought and purpose in the after life of Columbus. 

In course of time the young couple took up their 
abode on the bride's estate in Porto Santo. Here 
Diego was born. This point being on the line of 
Portuguese navigation to Africa, Columbus, somewhere 
about this time, made an excursion thither — probably 
more than once.^ 

Some time during this period of his life the grand 
conception of a western route to India dawned upon 
him. We need not resort to the slanderous rumor, 
circulated after his death and still advocated by some, 
that he obtained his information of a western country 
from a certain sea-captain or pilot who, having been 
blown out of his course and all the way to America by 
an adverse wind, had returned to die at the house of 
Columbus at Porto Santo. This rumor, brought for- 
ward by the defence during the lawsuit between Diego 
Columbus and the Spanish Crown, gained no credence 
at the time,^ and certainly should gain none now, 
after being rejected by all the best authorities on the 
life of Columbus. 

^ Some effort has been made to throw discredit on this residence in Porto 
Santo and the events connected with it; but it is narrated by Las Casas, who 
got his information from the Admiral's son, Diego, himself. 

- Oviedo sajs : "This story is a yarn which found credence only among 
common people." 



COLUMBUS AND THE NORSEMEN. 33 

Scarcely less worthy of confidence is the later 
notion, that knowledge of the discovery of America by 
the Norsemen, first obtained from Rome and afterward 
confirmed by a voj^age to Iceland, led Columbns to 
simply rediscover for the south what had long been 
known in the north. That the sea-kings from Iceland 
sailed to the North Atlantic coast of North America 
about the end of the tenth century, and that Colum- 
bus, according to a letter of his quoted by his son, 
went probably to Iceland, but possibly not farther than 
the Faroe Isles, in 1477, not even the X.yro in history 
doubts. But where is the evidence of any connection 
between the two events ? In all the voluminous 
records of facts concerning Columbus and his times, 
b}^ both friends and foes, there is never a whisper of 
any Norse influence over his mind or conduct, — not 
even in the records of a lawsuit of several years, in 
which the defendants of the Crown, as against the 
claims of Diego, Columbus's eldest son, said everj^- 
thing possible against the late Admiral and Viceroy as 
the rightful discoverer of the New World. How could 
any such fact, had it existed, have failed to be brought 
to light during that long and thorough search ? Nor 
has the most scrutinizing research up to the present 
hour brought any evidence whatever to support the 
above hj^pothesis. (See Justin Winsor's late work on 
Christopher Columbus, pp. 135-148). 

Then how unaccountable it is that the Pope, if he 
knew that Columbus had a budget of facts from the 
north, so important to the interests of the extension of 
the church, did not so much as help the argument with 
the touch of his little finger, when our hero was plead- 



34 



DEDUCTIVE REASONING. 



ing witli the crowned heads for those few small ships ? 
The sovereigns to whom the overtures were made were 
all the most faithful children of the church, as were also 
their counsellors at Salamanca and elsewhere. The 
slightest suggestion from the Holy See would have 
turned the scale at once in favor of the Genoese adven- 
turer. 

But, waiving all external evidence, let us look at that 
which is internaL Let us pursue Columbus from court 
to court and across the sea as he goes in search of land 
to the westward, somewhat after the manner of a detec- 
tive, and see what knowledge and what motives his own 
movements betray. His grand discovery was no mere 
happy hit, like that of Cabral, when he ran onto the 
coast of Brazil on his way to Africa some years later. 
Columbus worked to a theory, founded upon a wide 
range of facts and deductions more or less correct ; and 
that theory would seem to be none other than the one 
claimed by himself, his son, and his early biographers 
generally. Given on the one hand that the earth is 
round, and on the other that India could be reached by 
sailing around Africa, as the Portuguese believed and 
finally proved, and did it not follow, as a necessary in- 
ference, that India might be reached by sailing to the 
west ? Of course he had no conception of a continent 
between Europe on the east of the Atlantic and Asia 
on the west. He had made an estimate of the time 
required for the sun to pass from east to west over the 
two thousand miles of the Mediterranean sea, and hence 
formed some conception of the distance around the earth 
over which the sun passed in twenty-four hours. In- 
fluenced by the views of Ptolemy, Marinus of Tyre, and 



AMERICA AND BEHAIM'S MAP. 



35 



Alfraganus the Arabian, lie believed the earth to be 
much smaller than it is. " The world is small,, much 
smaller than people suppose^'' he wrote to Isabella during 
his fourth voyage. Then he thought the eastern coast 
of Asia to be about where the Isthmus of Darien was 
finally discovered, and Cipango or Japan to be about 
where he found the larger West India Islands. His 



HAJA 




AZORES 







v^ 



>^0 






^:^^y 




) 



.J 



^-.• 



THE ACTUAL AMERICA IN RELATION TO BEHAIM'S GEOGRAPHY. 



brilliant conceptions of India, then called Mangi and 
Cathay, and of Cipango, were derived either directly or 



36 HUMBOLDT'S OPINION. 

indirectly from the glowing accounts of Marco Polo, 
whom Humboldt calls " the greatest traveller of any 
age," and probably also from Sir John Mandeville. 
These writers had travelled through Eastern Asia, re- 
spectively, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
A careful stud}^ of their writings and also of the re- 
ports of other oriental travellers, and not the manu- 
script accounts of the tours of the Vikings or Norsemen, 
were the guiding star of Columbus all through his voy- 
ages of discover3^ Hence he became the ready victim 
of many a false and absurd notion ; and the reader is 
frequently amused by the egregious blunders which he 
was constantly making. " When the natives of Cuba 
pointed to the interior of their island and said ' Cubani- 
can,' Columbus interpreted it to mean ' Kublai Khan ;' 
and the Cuban name of ' Mangon ' became to his ear 
the Mangi of Sir John Mandeville.^ Indeed, nothing 
surprised him more than to find only naked savages 
where he had expected to find the wealthy and luxu- 
rious nations of the civilized Orient. Humboldt has 
well said, " If Columbus had desired to seek a conti- 
nent of which he had obtained information in Iceland, 
he would assuredl}^ not have directed his course south- 
ward from the Canary Islands." 

Had not Aristotle, Seneca, Pliny and Strabo all 
spoken of land to be found, in all probabilit}^, within 
moderate sailing distance to the west ? What land 
could this be biit that of Polo and Mandeville ? There 
was, besides Columbus, at least one man living who 
believed in the practicability of finding India in the 
western ocean. Dr. Paulo Toscanelli, of Florence, a 

^Justin Winsor, vol. II, p. 42, Narrative and Critical Hist. Am. 



PAULO TOSCANELLI. 37 

man of great scientific attainments, especially in the 
sublime field of astronomy, was so moved by this one 
thought that he might have been regarded as a sort of 
monomaniac on the subject. And the peculiar senti- 
ments of this savant must have been more or less 
known, for Alphonso IV. is said to have consulted him 
about this time (1474) as to a w^estern passage to " the 
land where the spices grow." The views of this inter- 
esting man betray a familiarity with the works of 
Polo and Mandeville and other travellers, perhaps ; and 
he also claims to have derived facts of great impor- 
tance from " an embassador to Pope Eugenius IV., who 
told him the great friendship there was between these 
princes, their people and Christians." 

To him Columbus wrote in about 1474, and received, 
in reply, a map of the supposed lands in the western 
ocean, in their relations to the known parts of the 
world ; and also a copy of a letter recently written to 
a learned ecclesiastic of Lisbon, for the special benefit 
of King Alphonso. The letter was as follows : 

" To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Physician 
wisheth health. 

" I perceive your noble and earnest desire to sail to 
those parts v.diere the spice is produced ; and therefore 
in answer to a letter of yours, I send you another 
letter, which some days since I wrote to a friend of 
mine, and servant to the King of Portugal, before the 
wars of Castile, in answer to another he writ to me by 
his Highnesses order, upon this same account, and I 
send 3^011 another sea chart like that I sent him, which 
will satisfy 3^our demands. The copj^ of that letter is 
this : 



TOSCANELLI'S MAP. 




u. 


j; 


o 


s 


H 


o 


ft 


T3 


Ui 


U 


Cfi 


■« 


m 




< 


> 




rt 


t 


j: 


< 


o 

-a 


X 


o 




c 


iJ 


0. 


^ 


3 


bi 


1/) 


^ 


." 


< 


u: 


O 

in 
o 


J3 


H 





TOSCANELLPS LETTER, 39 

"To Ferdinand Martinez, canon of Lisbon, Panl the 
Physician wishes health. 

" I am very glad to hear of the familiarity you have 
with your most serene and magnificent King, and 
though I have very often discoursed concerning the 
short way there is from hence to the Indies, where the 
spice is produced, b}^ sea, which I look upon to be 
shorter than you take by the coast of Guinea, yet you 
now tell me that his Highness would have me make 
out and demonstrate it so as it may be understood and 
put in practice. Therefore, tho' I could better show it 
him with a globe in ni}- hand, and make him sensible 
of the figure of the world, j^et I have resolved to render 
it more easy and intelligible to show this way upon a 
chart, such as are used in navigation, and therefore I 
send one to his Majesty, made and drawn with my own 
hand, wherein is set down the utmost bounds of the 
west from Iceland, in the north, to the furthest part of 
Guinea, with all the islands that lie in the way ; oppo- 
site to which western coast is descried the beginning of 
the Indies, with the islands and places whither you 
may go, and how far you may bend from the north 
pole towards the equinoctial and for how long a time ; 
that is, how many leagues you may sail before you 
come to those places most fruitful in all sorts of spice, 
jewels, and precious stones. Do not wonder if I term 
that country where the spice grows zvest^ that product 
being generally ascribed to the east^ because those who 
shall sail westward will alwaj^s find those places in the 
west, and the}^ that travel b}^ land eastwards will ever 
find those places in the east. The straight lines that lie 
lengthways in the chart show the distance there is from 



40 TOSCANELLPS LETTER. 

west to east, the other cross them show the distance 
from north to south. I have also marked down in the 
said chart several places in India where ships might 
put in upon any storm or contrary winds or any other 
accident unforeseen. And, moreover, to give you full 
information of all those places which you are very de- 
sirous to know, you must understand that none but 
traders live or reside in all those islands, and that there 
is there as great a number of ships and seafaring peo- 
ple with merchandise as in any other part of the world, 
particularly in a most noble part called Zacton, where 
there are every year an hundred large ships of pepper 
loaded and unloaded, besides many other ships that 
take in other spice. This country is mighty populous, 
and there are many provinces and kingdoms and innu- 
merable cities under the dominion of a prince called the 
Great Cham, which name signifies king of kings, who 
for the most part resides in the province of Cathay. 
His predecessors were very desirous to have commerce 
and be in amity with Christians, and 200 years since 
sent embassadors to the Pope desiring him to send them 
many learned men and doctors to teach them our faith ; 
but by reason of some obstacles the embassadors met 
with they returned back without coming to Rome. Be- 
sides, there came an embassador to Pope Eugenius IV., 
who told him the great friendship there was between 
those princes, their people, and Christians. I discoursed 
with him a long while upon the several matters of the 
grandeur of their ro3^al structures and of the greatness, 
length, and breadth of their rivers, and he told me many 
wonderful things of the multitude of towns and cities 
founded along the banks of the rivers, and that there 



TOSCANELLI'S LETTER. 



41 



were 200 cities upon one only river with marble bridges 
over it of a great length and breadth, and adorned with 
abundance of pillars. This countr}^ deserves, as well 
as au}^ other, to be discovered ; and there may not only 
be great profit made there, and many things of value 
found, but also gold, silver, all sorts of precious stones, 
and spices in abundance, which are not brought into 
our ports. And it is certain that many wise men, phil- 
osophers, astrologers, and other persons skilled in all 
arts and very ingenious, govern that mighty province 
and command their armies. From Lisbon, directly 
westward, there are in the chart 26 spaces, each of 
which contains 250 miles, to the most noble and vast 
city of Quisay, which is 100 miles in compass — that is, 
35 leagues ; in it there are 10 marble bridges. The 
name signifies a heavenly city, of which wonderful 
things are reported, as to the ingenuity of the people, 
the buildings, and revenues. This space above men- 
tioned is almost a third part of the globe. This 
city is in the province of Mango, bordering on that of 
Cathay, where the King for the most part resides. 
From the Island Antilia, which you call the seven 
cities, and whereof you have some knowledge, to the 
most noble island of Cipango, are 10 spaces, which 
make 2,500 miles, or 225 leagues, which island abounds 
in gold, pearls, and precious stones ; and you must 
understand they cover their temples and palaces with 
plates of pure gold. So that, for want of knowing the 
way, all these things are hidden and concealed, and 3"et 
may be gone to with safety. Much more might be said, 
but having told you what is most material, and 3^ou 
being wise and judicious, I am satisfied there is nothing 



42 VISION OF THE ORIENT. 

of it but what you understand, and therefore I will not 
be more prolix. Thus much may serve to satisfy your 
curiosity, it being as much as the shortness of time and 
my business would permit me to say. So I remain 
most ready to satisfy and serve his Highness to the 
utmost in all the commands he shall lay upon me. 

" Florence, y?^;?^ ^5, 1474^ 

The above letter was soon followed by another, very 
similar in character. It is a literary curiosity, without 
which this biography would scarcely be complete, 
since it is a most important link in the chain of events 
and discloses the magnificent vision which allured our 
hero. And while there is no evidence that Columbus 
borrowed his first thought of a western route from the 
Florentine doctor,^ that savant was, without doubt, 
much in advance of him, in the detailed items and 
elaborateness of his conception. His imagination had 
worked much more minutely on this splendid picture 
of the Orient ; using, in all probability, Marco Polo's 
high coloring, as well as the exaggerated statements of 
travellers, who claimed to give their facts and figures 
from recent observation. At this time, when the new 
thought dawning on the mind of Columbus would be 
almost enough to place him among the insane, in the 
estimation of his fellows, the chart sent by Toscanelli, 
planning his route in anticipation, and this letter, so 
positive and explicit in all its particulars, must have 
afforded an immense impulse. Imagine him poring 

^ Humboldt believed that the idea of reaching the east by sailing west 
awoke simultaneously in the minds of Columbus and Toscanelli. 

Harrisse, in his Notes on Columbus, p. 85, says, " Navarrete exhibits 
documents which prove that Columbus iirst thought of his idea in Portugal, 
in 1470, three years before he ever wrote to Toscanelli." 



SENE CAS MEDEA . 



43 



over them in the still hours of the night. Every line 
in the chart and every sentence of the letter would 
cause the fibres and tissues of nerve and brain to 
vibrate in response. 

Then he may have turned to his famous Imago 
Mundi by Cardinal D'Ailly, and reviewing those 
references to the learned ancients, from Aristotle to 
Roger Bacon, which implied the sphericity of the earth 
and the eastern shores of Asia not far to the westward 
of Spain, perhaps wrote one of his Latin notes on the 
margin. Or he may have revelled in the wonderful 
words of the Medea by the poet Seneca, — 

" Veniunt annis foecula feris, 
Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum 
Laxit, et ingens pateat tellus, 
Thetjsque novos legat orbes, 
Nee sic terris Ultima Thule," — 

which has been rendered, "Times will come, in 
distant ages, when the ocean will reveal its mysteries ; 
an immense land will appear, Thetys will uncover 
new continents, and the Shetlands will no longer be 
the extremity of the world." 

" Which poetical effusion so greatly pleased Colum- 
bus," sa3^s Harrisse, "that he quoted it twice in full, 
not to speak of Fernando, who wrote on the margin of 
his own copy of Seneca : ' This prophecy was accom- 
plished by my father, Christopher Columbus, in the 
year 1492.' " 

" Coming events cast their shadows before." While 
Columbus was evolving his great scheme of a western 
voyage, not a few heads were teeming more or less 
vaguely with notions of land in that direction. Antonio 



44 



LAND IN THE WEST. 



Leone, of Madeira, told him that, sailing thither one 
hundred leagues, he had descried three islands in the 
distance. Some of the inhabitants of the Canaries 
were sure that they had seen, at different times, a large 
island in the western ocean, its magnificent landscape 
of lofty mountains and deep valleys looming iip dis- 
tinctly above the wild waste of waters. Indeed they 
had even applied to the King of Portugal for permis- 
sion to go out and take possession of it ; but having 
made several expeditions, failed to find land, which 
still, however, rose occasionally on their vision. 

How certain sailors to the far west had picked up 
from the waves pieces of wood carved with some other 
implements than those common to civilization ; how 
reeds of immense size, so that "every joint would 
hold above four quarts of wine," corresponding to 
those which Ptolemy said grew in India, had floated to 
the shores of some of the western islands ; how the 
people of the Azores had seen among the debris 
thrown up by the waves huge trunks of pine trees, 
such as did not grow in their part of the world ; and 
how there had floated onto the shores of the island, 
Flores, two drowned men, " very broad faced " and un- 
like those of any known country — all these rumors 
have become familiar to the readers of biographies of 
Columbus. And their chief significance is the gen- 
eral state of mind which they discover. If the scholars 
of the closet and the cloister were too far removed from 
the facts of nature to sympathize with the great con- 
ception of Columbus, at least a few of the common 
people were nearer to the truth. Their eyes were out 
upon the ocean, and there was more or less of a pre- 
sentiment of land about to be found. 



THE SOLITAIRE. 45 

But Columbus was the representative of this im- 
portant idea. Imagine him as a solitaire on the lonely 
island of Porto Santo, seated, perhaps, on some " rock 
beside the sea." Probably no man living was more 
familiar with the scanty geography of the world, then 
known only to the few. Its incomplete chart of the 
wide and unknown sea could be called up to memory 
and the imagination at any moment. He seemed to 
stand on the shores of the infinite ; and before his vis- 
ion there arose, in the distance, realms of wealth and 
beauty, peopled with countless numbers. 

Whether the initial thought was all his own, or 
whether it was more or less derived from some one 
else, he was at least able to receive and assimilate great 
thoughts, to make from them the grandest generaliza- 
tions, and, what was greater still, had the singular 
courage to act upon their resultant of truth. The 
clever recluse sitting in his easy-chair might specu- 
late upon populous countries more or less distant in 
the western seas, and the cosmographer might project 
them upon parchment, and the poet put them into verse. 
This would require a mere modicum of the geographi- 
cal learning of the time, and a glint of imagination. 
But, for one in the humble ranks of poverty and toil, 
to amass the learning of the age, co-ordinating and 
utilizing it to the greatest practical end, to enlist kings, 
to procure ships and crews and venture into the terrors 
of the dark and unknown seas, and sail into the teeth 
of mutiny and danger inconceivable, till the land on 
the other side of the globe appeared, will ever remain a 
most astounding achievement. 




CHAPTER III. 

COLUMBUS AND KING JOHN II. 

|}0 conceive of a great enterprise as possible is 
one thing, but to project the best plan for 
bringing it to pass is quite another. Some 
years seem to have rolled by before Columbus deter- 
mined how to undertake his scheme. He was too poor 
to make an expedition on his own account, as the sea- 
kings from the north seem to have done ; and, as social 
orders and governments then existed, the enterprise 
was too great for any but crowned heads or established 
nations. He comprehended the situation. Tradition 
says he first applied to the Republic of Genoa by letter 
for the patronage needed, thus giving his native place 
the first preference. However this may have been, we 
know he applied to King John II., who came to the 
throne of Portugal in 1 481, in his twenty-fifth year. 
This monarch was the worthy successor to the discov- 
eries of Prince Henry, his great-uncle ; and with his 
accession the grand conception of reaching India by 
circumnavigating Africa received a new impulse. With 
a true spirit of enterprise, he built a fort on the coast 
of Guinea to protect commerce with the natives. Thus 
far the African enterprise had cost more than it had 
brought in return ; but the Portuguese, as also Western 
Europe in general, had the most fabulous notions of the 
wealth and resources of India. Gold, pearls, precious 
stones, spices, and the finest of silken fabrics were 
among its wondrous products. When the channel of 
this trade, now struggling slowly across the Asiatic con- 



PRESTER JOHN. , 47 

tinent and enriching the marts of Italy, should be made 
to flow around Africa into Portugal, a rich reward for 
all the expenses of exploration would be realized. 

King John was, no doubt, familiar with the astound- 
ing reports of Polo and Mandeville, as also with those 
of Rabbi Benjamin, the Spanish Jew, who had visited 
the scattered tribes of Israel in Tartary, and those of 
the ecclesiastics whom Pope Innocent had sent out to the 
Grand Khan, according to his own request, brought 
home by the elder Polo. He had also been particularly 
interested in the rumors about Prester John, a Christian 
king, believed to be ruling somewhere in the remote 
East, if not in the interior of Africa. He had even sent 
out embassadors in search of the latter. Impatient of 
the slow progress along the coast of the dark continent, 
he had called a select council of the most learned astron- 
omers and cosmographers in his kingdom, including 
the learned INIartin Behaim, to ascertain in what par- 
ticulars the methods of navigation might be improved. 
The result of this conference was a better use of the 
astrolabe, an instrument similar to our quadrant, and 
applied to find the distance of the sailor from the equator 
by means of the altitude of the sun. If Prince Henry 
had improved the use of the compass, King John had 
thus rendered a similar service to the great enterprises 
of navigation.^ 

^ Had it not been for the compass and the astrolabe thus brought into use, 
the great age of discovery could not have been inaugurated. Irving says 
truly, " The mariner now, instead of coasting the shores like the ancient nav- 
igators, and, if driven from the land, groping his way back in doubt and ap- 
prehension by the uncertain guidance of the stars, might adventure boldly 
into unknown seas, confident of being able to trace his course by means of 
the compass and the astrolabe." — Life and Voyages of Christopher Colum- 
bus, vol. /, p. 66. 



48 JOHN II. AND HIS COUNCIL 

This royal personage, above all others, would seem 
to be the one whom Columbus might approach in be- 
half of his magnificent proposal. Being of a liberal 
mind and in sympathy with the latest scientific views of 
his time, he saw, at a glance, the immense advantages 
promised b}^ the new proposition. But it was so novel, 
so adventuresome, that it would not be well to encour- 
age it without the advice and approval of his wisest 
counsellors. A very select group, perhaps not more 
than three — Rodrigo and Joseph, Jews, and Diego 
Ortez de Calzadilla, bishop of Ceuta and confessor to 
the King — were chosen to deliberate and advise upon 
the matter. These men, all noted for their learning in 
the sciences pertaining to nautical ajGfairs, gave their 
judgment against Columbus's proposition, as being 
altogether too extravagant and impractical. '' To such 
men," says Irving, "the project of a voyage directly 
westward into the midst of that boundless waste to 
seek some visionary land appeared as extravagant as 
it would be at the present day to launch forth in a 
balloon into the regions of space in quest of some 
distant star." 

It would seem, however, that the principal cause of 
hesitancy on the part of the King was the fact stated 
by Ferdinand Columbus, — that the explorations on 
the west coast of Africa, which occupied nearly half 
of the working force of Portugal, and in which great 
numbers had died, and which had not as j^et brought 
in very flattering returns, would not admit of the ad- 
ditional expense and risk implied in the plan of Co- 
lumbus. 

But the King was not satisfied. He therefore called 



THE SECOND COUNCIL. ^^ 

a second council, much larger than the first, to con- 
sider the feasibility of the undertaking. But its 
decision was similar to that of the former. The dis- 
cussion must have been decidedly enthusiastic, — 
almost a polite and good-natured sparring. The 
bishop of Ceuta, whom the King regarded as one of 
his chief advisers, not only discouraged the plan of 
Columbus, but even spoke against the continuation of 
the African enterprises, as tending " to distract the at- 
tention, drain the resources, and divide the power' of 
the nation, already too much weakened b}^ recent war 
and pestilence. While their forces were thus scattered 
abroad on remote and unprofitable expeditions, they 
exposed themselves to attack from their active enemy, 
the King of Castile." " The greatness of monarchs 
did not arise so much from the extent of their domin- 
ions as from the wisdom and ability with which they 
governed. In the Portuguese nation, it would be mad- 
ness to launch into enterprises without first consider- 
ing them in connection with its means. The King 
had already enough on his hands in Africa, without 
taking up this new and wild scheme. If he wished 
employment for the active valor of the nation, the war 
in which he was engaged against the Moors of Bar- 
bar}^ was sufficient." 

To this conservative advice the Count of Villa Real 
made a most spirited reply : " Portugal was not in its 
infancy, nor were its princes so poor as to lack means 
to engage in discoveries. Even granting that these 
proposed by Columbus were conjectural, why should 
the}^ abandon those begun by their late Prince Henry? 
Portugal was at peace with all Europe. It would be 



20 THE SECOND COUNCIL. 

her greatest glory to search out the secrets of the dark 
sea of which other nations were afraid. Thus em- 
ployed, she would escape the idleness incident to a 
continued peace — idleness, that source of vice, that 
silent file, which, little by little, wore awaj?- the strength 
and valor of a nation. Great souls were formed for 
great enterprises. Why should one so religious as 
the bishop of Ceuta oppose this undertaking ? Was 
not its final object to spread the Catholic faith from 
pole to pole ?" 

The African explorations were thus sustained, but 
the cause of Columbus was too uncertain to be included 
in this appeal by the Count, smacking so perceptibly 
of generous enterprise. 

Evidently these advisers saw that the King was not 
even yet satisfied, for the bishop of Ceuta suggested 
as a quicUis that there should be a clandestine expedi- 
tion sent to the west under the instructions furnished 
by Columbus, to see if there were any such lands as 
he supposed. 

When Columbus was now called upon to exhibit his 
charts again, and to give the most complete and explicit 
account of his anticipated voyage, he no doubt regarded 
it as much in his favor. Surely the King and his 
counsellors were now being converted to his poposi- 
tion ! But, alas ! contrary to his usual high sense of 
justice, the King was yielding to the false allurement 
of Calzadilla. A ship was being fitted up, ostensibly 
to carry provisions to the Cape Verde Islands, but 
really to make a trial voyage to the far west.^ But 

^Fernando Columbus says: "The King, by the advice of one Doctor 
Calzadilla, of whom he made great account, resolved to send a caravel pri- 



THE SECOND COUNCIL. ^i 

this enterprise, so ill-founded, lacked the conviction, 
the courage, and the determination necessary to so 
great an undertaking ; and the ship soon returned, 
with no results except that the sailors were thoroughly 
frightened by the huge waves and wild waste of waters, 
which stretched out like an infinite expanse in all direc- 
tions. One might as well expect to find land in the 
sky, they said. Most heartily did they laugh at such 
a foolhardy enterprise. This, of course, would cover 
their failure. 

When Columbus discovered the mean advantage 
which had been taken of him he shook off the dust 
from his feet against Portugal. On the strength of 
Fernando's History it has generally been supposed that 
his wife was now dead, and that his only child, his 
little son Diego, was his solitar}^ companion, as empty- 
handed he looked out into the world for some other aid 
to bring to pass his grand scheme. 

But an autograph letter of his now in the possession 
of the Duke of Veraguas, his descendant by the female 
line, and quoted by Navarrete, tome ii, doc. cxxxvii, 
says that when leaving Portugal he left wife and chil- 
dren and saw them no more. Thus his entire family, 
except Diego, must have died soon after he left. There 
would seem to be much probability in the conjecture of 
Mr. Fisk, who says : "As Las Casas, who knew Diego 
so well, also supposed his mother to have died before 
his father left Portugal, it is most likely that she died 
soon afterwards. Ferdinand Columbus says that Diego 

Tately to attempt that which the Admiral had proposed to him; because, in 
case those countries were so discovered, he thought himself not obliged to 
bestow any great reward which might be demanded on account of the dis- 
covery." 



52 



THE SECOND COUNCIL. 



was left in charge of some friars at the convent of La 
Rabida, near Palos ; Las Casas is not quite so sure ; 
he thinks that Diego was left with some friend of his 
father at Palos, or perhaps at La Rabida. These mis- 
takes were easy to make, for both La Rabida and 
Huelva were close by Palos, and we know that Diego's 
aunt, Muliar, was living at Huelva. It is pretty clear 
that Columbus never visited La Rabida before the au- 
tumn of 1 49 1. My own notion is that Columbus may 
have left his wife with an infant, and perhaps an older 
child, relieving her of the care of Diego by taking him 
to his aunt, and intending, as soon as practicable, to re- 
unite the family. He clearly did not know at the out- 
set whether he should stay in Spain or not." 

It would seem that he left Portugal secretly, and a 
letter from King John, years afterwards, asking him to 
return, and promising to protect him from any civil or 
criminal process pending against him, may justify the 
statement made by some that he was trammelled by 
debt. Having been so deeply immersed in his studies 
and speculations about land in the west, he may have 
suffered his financial affairs to go to ruin. 

His son Fernando says that " about the end of the 
year 1484 the Admiral stole away privatel}^ out of Por- 
tugal, with his son James, for fear of being stopped by 
the King ; for he, being sensible how faulty they were 
whom he had sent vvdth the caravel, had a mind to re- 
store the Admiral to his favor, and desired he should 
renew the discourse of his enterprise ; but, not being so 
diligent to put this in execution as the Admiral was in 
getting away, he lost that good opportunity." 




CHAPTER IV. 

COLUMBUS IN SPAIN. 

|T is the opinion of critics general!}^ tliatitwas 
not later than 1484 when Colnmbns left Por- 
tugal, and that some time during 1485 or 
i486 he first appeared before the court of Spain. 
Where was he during the intervening time ? Surely 
he could not have been idle, for the one and all-absorb- 
ing thought of his life pressed heavily upon him, and 
he must now have been at least from thirtj^-eight to 
forty years old. He would realize the importance of 
economizinor J^ig time. 

It is generally believed that he went to Genoa on 
leaving Portugal, and that he now applied in person to 
the republic for aid to carry out his plan. The nation 
was in a state of depression at the time, and there seems 
to have been a disposition on the part of the senate to 
make light of their obscure countryman. " Who is 
this Christopher Columbus ? " some one asks. " A 
sailor of this city," another replies; "the son of 
Domenico Columbo, a wool-comber. His brothers and 
sister are here in humble circumstances." With the 
depression of the little republic, the obscurity of the 
applicant, and the v/ildness of the proposal, what after- 
ward proved to be the discover}^ of a new world re- 
ceived but little attention. 

Some say he now went to Venice and presented his 



54 



HIS FIllST APPEARANCE. 



plan, but to no purpose.^ Of this, however, there is no 
official record. 

At this same time he is said to have made provision 
out of his slender purse for his aged father and for the 
education of his younger brother, the family now hav- 
ing returned to Genoa, after having spent some years 
at Savona. Some ill-fortune would seem to have befal- 
len them, to have made them thus dependent. Possi- 
bly Christopher again set up for a time his little estab- 
lishment for making maps and globes and for copying 
and selling books. 

It has ever been the custom to follow the order of 
Fernando Columbus's biography of his father, and thus 
introduce the future Admiral into Spain by means of 
the touching incident at the door of the monastery. La 
Rabida ; but ever since the publication of Navarrete's 
famous collection of documents there has been a doubt 
as to the priority of that event, in relation to his seven 
years of solicitation. Finally, Mr. Fisk, in his '' Dis- 
covery of America," has, as it seems to us, arrived at a 
proper co-ordination. He says : " The error of Ferdi- 
nand Columbus, a very easy one to commit, and not in 
the least damaging to his general character as biog- 
rapher, lay in confusing his father's two real visits (in 
1484 and 1 491) to Huelva with two visits (one imagi- 
nary in 1484 and one real in 1491) to La Rabida, which 
was close by, between Huelva and Palos. The visits 
were all the more likely to get mixed up in recollection, 
because in each case their object was little Diego, and 

^ It is but just to say that these traditions of an application to Genoa and 
Venice are now regarded as of vei-j doubtful authority, and yet it is difficult 
to account for the whereabouts of Columbus at this time, except on this sup- 
position. 



HIS FIRST A PPEA RANGE. ^ ^ 

in each case he was left in charge of somebody in that 
neighborhood. The confnsion has been helped b}^ an- 
other for which Ferdinand is not responsible, viz : the 
friar Juan Perez has been confounded with another friar, 
Antonio de Marchena, who, Columbus says, was the only 
person who from the time of his first arrival in Spain 
had always befriended him and never mocked at him. 
These worthy friars twain have been made into one (<?. 
^., ' the prior of the convent, Juan Perez de Marchena,' 
Irving's Columbus, vol. I, p. 128), and it has often been 
supposed that Marchena.' s acquaintance began with 
Columbus at La Rabida in 1484, and that Diego was 
left at the convent at that time. But some modern 
sources of information have served at first to bemuddle, 
and then, when more carefully sifted, to clear up the 
story. In 1508 Diego Columbus brought suit against 
the Spanish crown to vindicate his claim to certain ter- 
ritories discovered by his father, and there was a long 
investigation, in which maily witnesses were summoned 
and past events were busily raked over the coals. 
Among the witnesses were Rodriguez Cabejudo and the 
phj^sician Garcia Fernandez, v/ho gave from personal 
recollection a ver}^ lucid account of the affairs at La 
Rabida. These proceedings are printed in Navarrete, 
Coleccion de viagcs^ tom. iii, pp. 238-591. More recentl}^ 
the publication of the great book of Las Casas has fur- 
nished some very significant clues, and the elaborate 
researches of M. Harrisse have furnished others. (See 
Las Casas, lib. i, cap. xxix, xxxi ; Harrisse, tom. i, pp. 
341-372 ; tom. ii, pp. 227-231 ; cf. Peragallo, 1' Autenti- 
cita, &c., pp. 1 17-134.) It now seems clear that Mar- 
chena, whom Columbus knew from his first arrival in 



56 



AT GJRANADA. 



Spain, was not associated with La Rabida. At that 
time Columbus left Diego, a mere infant, with his wife's 
sister at Huelva. Seven years later, intending to leave 
Spain forever, he went to Huelva and took Diego, then 
a small boy. On his way from Huelva to the Seville 
road, and thence to Cordova (where he would have been 
joined by Beatrix and Ferdinand), he happened to pass 
by La Rabida, where up to that time he was evidently 
unknown, and to attract the attention of the prior Juan 
Perez, and the wheel of fortune suddenl}^ and unexpec- 
tedly turned. As Columbus's next start was not for 
France, but for Granada, his boy was left in charge of 
two trustworthy persons." 

Falling back upon authenticated facts, he appears 
at Cordova in i486, where the court of the sovereigns 
was then held. 

To get into the royal presence on so strange an errand 
would not have been easy at any time, but the present 
was singularly unfavorable. The monarchs were just 
in the midst of the greatest home enterprise under- 
taken during their entire reign — the conquest of the 
Moors. For many hundred years these interlopers had 
been a thorn in the sides of the rulers of Spain. A brave, 
intelligent, active and enterprising people, they had 
built up an immense civilization throughout the south- 
ern part of the peninsula. Granada, entrenched in the 
mountains of Sierra Nevada, was their capital ; and 
Malaga was their seaport. To drive the infidels out 
of Spain was the desideratum alike of church and 
state. The united kingdoms of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, therefore, were vying with each other in the stern 
battle, as the Moors contested every inch of ground 



ALONZO DE ^UINTANILLA. 57 

in the most heroic manner. The grand dukes and no- 
bles were in full force, like so many lesser armies com- 
bined ; and the magnificence of martial and armorial 
display was not to be surpassed by anything of the 
age. Scarcely less imposing was the crowd of ecclesi- 
astics, who were also in the field to give counsel and 
aid in this holy war. The King and Queen, with all 
the court, moved along with the encampment. 

Such was the absorption of the royal and the public 
mind when Columbus somehow made his appearance 
before Fernando de Talavera, a high dignitary of the 
church, who was now confessor to the Queen. This 
introduction was unfortunate, for Talavera was not the 
kind of man to sympathize with the views of Colum- 
bus. If there were anything in this new" adventure in 
cosmography and navigation, it seemed strange to him 
that the wise heads of the past had not discovered it. 
Men had not j-et found out that " the world moves.'''' 
He deemed the proposition wholly unworth}^ the 
attention of the monarchs in the present crisis of 
national affairs. But Alonzo de Quiutanilla, controller 
of the treasury of Castile, to w'hom Columbus had 
been assigned as a guest, w^as a person of progressive 
thought, and " delighted in great undertakings." Be- 
coming a thorough convert to the new scheme, he 
gradually introduced this man of strange dreams to 
persons of influence about the court ; first to the 
brothers Geraldini, one a nuncio from the Pope, the 
other a learned instructor in the royal household ; then 
to the Grand Cardinal de Mendoza, the most influen- 
tial subject in the two kingdoms, and sometimes called 
" the third King of Spain." Thus, after a detention of 



2 8 COLUMBUS BEFORE THE MONARCHS. 

about a year, this powerful persouage in the royal 
councils succeeded in gaining attention. Like an im- 
mense revelation must the grand conception of Co- 
lumbus have burst upon the imagination of the King and 
Queen. How far beyond anything which Portugal had 
achieved would be its vast results. The fabulous wealth 
of the Indies — the desideratum of the nations — would 
thus come directly across the ocean sea into Spain, in- 
stead of struggling overland into Italy, or sailing around 
Africa into Portugal. But was this vast enterprise 
feasible ? Might they safel}^ undertake it ? ^ It seemed 
too great — this vision of the Orient — to be practicable. 
They would at least move cautiously. Talavera was 
therefore instructed to call a council of the most 
learned and scientific men in the two kingdoms, at 
Salamanca, the chief seat of learning in Spain. ^ 
Whether great in number or not, it must have been an 
august assembly, consisting, for the most part, of 
ecclesiastics versed in astronomy, geography, mathe- 
matics, and sciences connected with navigation. 

How will this man of the sea appear before such an 
array of learning and wisdom ? Will he be equal to 
the occasion in presenting his vast and unheard-of 
idea? Aye, this tall figure, in plain— possibly thread- 
bare—apparel, is majestic and impressive. His argu- 
ments, thoroughly thought out and well arranged, are 
from the most authentic resources in science and litera- 

1 "Indeed, Avhen it is considered that the most pressing internal aifairs of 
kingdoms are neglected by the wisest rulers in times of war, it is wonderful 
that he succeeded in obtaining any audience at all." — Helps, Col., f. 65. 

^This junta met in the convent of St. Stephen. There is no evidence 
that the Universitj' of Salamanca bore any official or responsible part in 
these deliberations. 



THE COUNCIL AT SALAJllAJVCA. ^g 

ture, well sandwiched with incidents and facts. If not 
so ready to give away all the plans of his route as he 
had been in Portugal, he is self-possessed and eloquent. 
Maps, charts, and books are all at his command. This 
is no mere visionary conception, but a most direct and 
conclusive line of deductive reasoning, which, in more 
modern times, would be pronounced scientific. 

The more liberal members of the council, the win- 
dows of whose souls have been open to the light, are 
deeply moved, and receive impressions which will soon 
mature into conviction ; but the majority, Talavera 
among the rest, feel no force of argument, but only a 
severe shock of deep-seated prejudices. Time-honored 
notions, writings of the church fathers, and the scrip- 
tures are all made to do duty in opposition. 

Let us be auditors for a few minutes in this assem- 
bly — possibly mere committee-room — of four hundred 
years ago, and catch at least the echo of a few of their 
leading objections to Columbus's idea. Here, for in- 
stance, comes a famous quotation from Lactantius, one 
of the early fathers in the Latin church. It is con- 
cerning this absurd doctrine of the sphericity of the 
earth. " Is there any one so foolish," he asks, " as to 
believe that there are antipodes, with their feet oppo- 
site to ours ; — people who walk with their heels up- 
wards and their heads hanging down — where ever3'thing 
is topsy-turvey, where the trees grow with their branches 
downwards, and where it rains, hails, and snows up- 
wards ? " 

Then the shade of St. Augustine, another of the 
church fathers, is made to appear on the stand and tes- 
tify against this preposterous notion that the earth is 



6o THE COUNCIL AT SALAMANCA. 

round and that there are antipodes. "It is contrary to 
the scriptures,'' he says, " for they teach that all men 
are descended from Adam, which would be impossible 
if men lived on the other side of the earth, for they 
could never have crossed the wide sea." 

And do not the scriptures imply that the earth is 
flat? Do they not speak of the foundation thereof, and 
of the heavens stretched out like a curtain or tent on 
the earth ? This man of strange notions, in the presence 
of ecclesiastics, let him beware lest he smell of heresy 
and be made to feel the fangs and fires of the newly- 
established inquisition ! ^ 

Then turning the views of Columbus against himself 
they said he never could pass the torrid zone, for its 
heat is insupportable ; that the distance around the 
earth is so great that it would require three years to 
make the tour, and no ship could be stocked with pro- 
visions and water for so long a time ; that if one should 
go directly across the ocean to India the rotundity of 
the earth would present an impassable mountain to the 
return voyage, over which no wind could propel the 
ship. 

To every one of these objections, as well as to the 
mau}^ others we cannot mention here, Columbus made 
a rational and adequate reply, such as would be re- 

1 " Perhaps we should have had the spectacle of Christopher Columbus 
before the terrible Torquemada if Mgr. Alessandro Geraldini, of Aumlia in 
Perugia, a man of learning and piety, but reasonable and prudent, who was 
present at these sittings, had not overheard their menacing expressions 
against Columbus, and, seeing the danger he was in from their blind fanati- 
cism, run to report to the great cardinal the condition of things, and by in- 
terposing that great man's authority persuaded those over-zealous persons 
that though St. Augustine was a wonderful saint and doctor, still he had never 
been made authority in geography and cosmography." — Tardticci, in his Co- 
lumbus, gives the above as related by Geraldini himself. 



THE DE CISION A GA fNST COL UMB US. 6i 

garded incontestable at the present time ; but these 
great dignitaries could not easil}^ unlearn their old no- 
tions; so the majority voiced the report, that this new 
project was " vain and impossible, and thai it did not be- 
long to the majesty of such great princes to determine 
anything upon snch zaeak grounds of information?'' This 
council is supposed to have been held in the winter of 
i486-'S7.' 

The opposers of Columbus no doubt regarded this 
decision as a death-blow to his proposition ; but, in fact, 
the mere discussion of such a theme was a great move 
forward. The leaven of the new idea, with its argu- 
ments so well presented, had been thoroughl}^ worked 
into positive and leading minds. Time alone would 
be needed to assimilate the determining forces of the 
nation. Nor should we conceive of the years of pa- 
tient waiting which followed as wholly without en- 
couragement. The parties above mentioned as help- 
ing Columbus to come before the King and Queen, and 
also other persons of influence, came more and more 
full}^ into sympathy with his views.^ Columbus still 

^ "Ferdinand and Isabella seem not to have taken the extremely unfavor- 
able view of the matter entertained by the junta of cosmographers, or at 
least to have been willing to dismiss Columbus gently, for they merely said 
that, with the wars at present on their hands, and especially that of Gi'anada, 
they could not undertake any new enterprises, but when that war was ended 
they would examine his plan more carefully." — Helps, Col., p. 67. 

" " One of these was father Diego Deza, young in years, but already the 
highest professor in theology, and preceptor to the Infanta, heiress to the 
throne, and who afterwards, step b}' step, rose to be archbishop of Toledo, 
primate of all Spain. He entered at once, in the first session, into the reason- 
ing of Columbus, and not only listened with attention, but took up his cause, 
and with the help of the other friars labored earnestly to calm the noisiest 
of his colleagues, and to persuade them that propriety and justice demanded 
that they should listen to the reasoning with serious attention." — Tardttcci's 
Columbus, p. 95. 



62 THE HOL r SEPUL CHRE. 

had the honor of being the guest of Alon^o de Quin- 
tanilla, and the royal treasury made occasional appro- 
priations for him. Moreover, the sovereigns promised 
to give him another hearing as soon as the pressing 
claims of the war were over. Meanwhile, in one way 
or another, he rendered such aid as he could in the 
various campaigns. 

Nor were his thoughts concerning his great project 
inactive, for we now find him adding an immense and 
wholly new conception to his scheme for the future ; 
one which he was destined never to realize, but which 
was to have such great influence in determining his 
purposes and movements ever afterwards that the 
student of his biography cannot afford to lose sight of 
it for a sinQ;le moment. 

Who are those two strange looking travellers just 
now entering the camp ? They are friars from the 
convent of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Why 
are they so pressing to see the King and Queen ? 
They bring serious tidings from the Sultan of Egypt, 
who has already begun to retaliate the Spanish war 
against the Moors. He threatens, further, to kill all 
the Christians in his dominions, to demolish all their 
churches and convents, and even the Hol}^ Sepulchre 
itself, if the war is not relinquished. 

The sovereigns were not intimidated by these threats, 
but, in all probability, pushed siege and battle more 
vigorously. But the leaders in the army are stirred 
with the spirit of the crusades as the threats of the 
Sultan become the talk about the camp-fires ; and Co- 
lumbus resolves to turn to account the fabulous wealth 
of the Orient, which he expects soon to appropriate 



THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 63 

He will raise an immense army, and recover the tomb 
of Christ from the infidel. From now till death this 
determination is held with a firmness of grasp that 
does not yield or hesitate for a moment. In his last 
will and testament it is a main feature. 

The last week in December, 1487, Diaz returned to 
Lisbon from that memorable voyage in which the Cape of 
Good Hope was discovered. How intenseh^ must that 
event have interested Christopher Columbus. Africa 
was surely a continent ! and Prince Henry's concep- 
tion of reaching the wealth of India by that route 
would soon be realized. This was indeed fuel to that 
flame which had been so long burning in Columbus's 
heart. Oh, for the shorter route by way of the west ! 
When would it be possible for him to demonstrate it ? 

But another item of intense interest connected with 
this voyage is the fact that the Admiral's brother 
Bartholomew was a companion of Diaz in the impor- 
tant discovery. This is proven by a note in the 
Adelantado's own hand, on the margin of the Admi- 
ral's famous copy of the Imago Mundi^ as identified 
b}^ Las Casas, who was intimately acquainted with him 
and with his chirography. We are not surprised, 
therefore, to find that the Admiral at once arranged 
for a trip to Lisbon. On the 20th of March, 1488, 
King John II. granted him a safe conduct, promising 
him immunit}^ from any arrest ; but it was not until 
the fall of that year that he availed himself of it. 
About the middle of August, 1488, occurred the birth 
of his second son, Fernando. It is but natural that 
this anticipated event should have detained him.^ It 

'During the Admiral's long detention about the court at Cordova he had 



64 THE DUKES OF MEDINA. 

was probably during this interview with Bartholomew 
that he arranged to send him to England to appeal to 
Henry VII. in behalf of his plan. 

In May, 1489, Columbus appears again in Cordova. 
During the siege of Beza, which now occurred near 
the close of the Moorish war, Zuiiiga says he '' took 
a glorious part, giving proof of the great valor which 
accompanied his wisdom and profound conceptions." 
Being discouraged by the slow progress of his cause at 
court, about Christmas of this same year he applied to 
the Duke of Medina Sidonia, one of the most wealthy 
and influential subjects in the realm, for aid, but to no 
effect. The appeal to the Duke of Medina Celi, which 
then followed, was more telling, for this noble person- 
age entertained him at his castle for two years, and 

formed an attachment to Beatrix Enriquez, a ladj of noble family, but, as in 
the case of Filipa Perestrello, without fortune. That this connection was 
not sanctioned by marriage is implied by the entire absence of any record to 
that eifect, and is explicitly stated by Las Casas, and may be inferred from Co- 
lumbus's will, which reads : " I say and direct to Don Diego, my son, or to 
whosoever shall inherit, that he shall pay all the debts which I leave here in a 
memorial, in the form therein specified, and all the others which justly seem 
to be owed by me. And I direct him tliat he shall have special care for Beatrix 
Enriquez, the mother of Don Fernando, my son, that he shall provide for 
her so that she ma3' live comfortably, like a person should for whom I have 
so much regard. And this shall be done for the ease of my conscience, 
because this has weighed heavily on my soul. The reason therefor it is not 
proper to mention here." 

In the exaltation of Columbus as Viceroy this lady never appears as 
Vicequeen, nor does her son, Fernando, make any mention of her, though 
he particularly notices his father's marriage to the mother of Diego. 

" This fact," says Tarducci, " is certainly a most unpleasant disturbance 
of the harmony of the blameless life of Christopher Columbus. But who- 
ever remembers the unbridled license of the times in matters of morals, and 
the shamelessness of the example set by every class and condition of persons, 
especially by those most conspicuous by rank and dignity, will not raise too 
much scandal if even a virtuous and religious man was for a time defiled with 
that pitch." 



LA RABIDA. 



65 



even contemplated fitting out the caravels and the men 
necessary for his vo3^age. But how would so bold and 
important an adventure, on the part of one of those 
feudal lords whom the sovereigns had aimed so strenu- 
ousl}^ to check, be received by them? He would con- 
sult the Queen about the matter, and thus give her 
another occasion to consider the enterprise herself. If 
she would undertake it he would join her. Her reply 
was uncertain. But if she should assume the enter- 
prise, she would be glad of his co-operation. This 
virtual promise was forgotten in after years. 

In the gloomy days of autumn, in 1491, sickened at 
heart from hope long deferred, Columbus set out for 
Huelva. He would get his son Diego, take him to his 
other son and his mother, and find a home for them, per- 
haps in France or in England. Moreover, he would 
try to find out something as to the outcome of his 
brother's trip to the latter realm. 

It was during this journey from Huelva to Palos 
that Columbus first called at the convent of La Rabida. 
This, as we have seen, is made clear by the testimony 
of Diego's lawsuit with the Crow^n, which Navarrete 
has so carefully collated. 

The poetic imagination will never cease to paint 
the scene. This wanderer from court to court, so deep 
in the contemplation of undiscovered lands that he 
has never had time to make for himself a common 
competency, knocks at the door of a convent like some 
highway beggar, and asks for bread and water for 
himself and his child. The door is opened and the 
favor is granted, for it is but a small one, and common 
enough, no doubt, with this time-honored institution 
of good and charitable deeds. 






66 JUAN PEREZ, 

As the humble guests partake of their simple repast, 
the waiter is impressed with their appearance. The 
worthy prior comes that way, and he also is interested. 
Surely these are no common wayfarers — no mere 
"tramps," as we would say. That man in threadbare 
garments, but with noble bearing and an impressive 
intelligence, must be one of nature's noblemen, with 
some important mission to mankind. The hair pre- 
maturely gray, the lines of thought and care on every 
feature, the pensive look of anxious sorrow — all speak 
to the kindly heart of the good prior. A conver- 
sation begins, upon which the destiny of how great a 
part of the world is pending ! 

Again Columbus has come to the right place. In 
the language of Mr. Knight, " surely some good angel " 
must have led him to Juan Perei'. de Marchena, who, 
probably more than any one else living, could at once 
sympathize with his deepest thoughts and purposes, 
and give him a truly helping hand in this crisis. This 
personage was something more than a mere ecclesi- 
astic. He seems to have been learned and thoughtful 
beyond the attainments of his age. Having an ob- 
servatory on the roof of his convent, he was ac- 
customed to resort thither for the contemplation alike 
of the heavenl}^ bodies above and of the boundless 
ocean in full view beyond. Probably believing in the 
sphericity of the earth, he had anticipated Columbus's 
conception of populous realms in the western seas. 
Many an hour had he spent in solemn reverie as to the 
multitudes who might be living in far-off and mysteri- 
ous lands, without the true knowledge of God. More- 
over, he was possessed of those liberal sentiments and 



CO UNSELL ORS PR OM PAL OS. 



67 



those broad and intense sympathies which would 
readily identify him with the aspirations of his 
guest. 

But no less important were the relations which 
Juan Perez bore to the Spanish monarchs. He had 
formerly been confessor to Queen Isabella, and was 
acquainted with some of the most influential person- 
ages about the court. His position, personal worth, 
and sanctity of character were all such as could give 
him strong influence. But he was too discreet to 
depend simpl}^ on his own judgment. The convent of 
La Rabida was about a mile and a half from Palos, a 
seaport, where dwelt some of the ablest mariners in 
Spain. They were fully awake to all discoveries 
recently made on the African coast, and some of 
them had themselves been there and to the islands to 
the westward. They had perhaps been the medium 
of the nautical interest and information in which the 
good prior himself shared so largely. Several of the 
most distinguished citizens of Palos were invited to 
the convent to interview the stranger. Foremost 
among these was Garcia Fernandez, a physician of the 
town, who, during the lawsuit of Diego Columbus with 
the Spanish crown, related the incident here given. 
He seems to have been a person of liberal mind and 
uncommon attainments, especially in respect to those 
sciences pertaining to navigation. Another distin- 
guished person added to the social group was Martin 
Alonzo Pinzon, the chief member of a seafaring family 
of wealth and prestige. He soon came to have a 
singularly clear insight into the facts, arguments, and 
theories of Columbus, and sympathized with them so 



68 THE ^ UEEN IS INTER VIE WED. 

deeply as to risk property, influence, and, ultimately, 
life itself in the great enterprise. 

Here, for the first time, the views of a prophet of the 
New World were receiving the unprejudiced and en- 
lightened attention which they so well deserved. Here, 
in a quiet and retired monastery, were those opinions 
and purposes forming which were soon to lead the most 
powerful courts and inaugurate an enterprise which 
must affect the destiny of nations beyond any mere sec- 
ular affair in all ages, unless it be the art of printing. 

Juan Perez, through an able messenger, most earnestly 
interceded for Columbus. Isabella replied favorably 
and wished to see the prior, who did not wait till the 
following day after receiving the intelligence, but 
mounted his mule and travelled after midnight, through 
the bleak winds of midwinter, to the royal encampment 
at the new town of Santa Fe.^ Here he sought the 
Queen. 

Many a sacred reminiscence of other days must now 
have arisen in her mind, and was not the good prior 
able to plead every point in the case ? In this inter- 
view, which turned the tide of fortune in favor of Colum- 
bus, Juan Perez is said to have been seconded by 
Louis de Santangel, a fiscal officer of Arragon, and also 
by the Marchioness of Moya, an intimate friend of the 
Queen. 

Her generous impulses were aroused, and she re- 
quested Columbus to be present again at the court. 
With a true instinct of benevolence she sent him a 
handsome sum of money that he might make his ap- 

1 This city, the name of which in English is St. Faith, was built as a seat 
of royalty and a general encampment during the siege of Granada. 



THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA. 69 

pearance in a becoming manner. With this $1,180.00 
he bought a mule for his journey, and provided a suit 
of apparel. Was not success now probable ? Imagine 
the exultation of spirits in which he set out on his 
journey ! 

Very soon after the arrival of Columbus in the vicinity 
of Granada a council of learned men is again called to 
deliberate upon this western voyage into the " vasty 
deep," which somehow will not stay ''''put dozoiiy And 
behold, time has wrought in its favor. Even Talavera 
will throw some weigb.t into the scale for the persistent 
adventurer. The Queen, too, is essentially convinced ; 
but not for a moment can attention be diverted from the 
conquest of Granada, now supposed to be just at hand. 
That consummated she will give this strange thing 
under the sun a favorable hearing. 

On January 2d, 1492, Granada surrendered, and the 
event may well be regarded as one of the grandest in 
the history of Spain. The united forces of the King 
and Queen have finally conquered the Moors, and 
Boabdil, their King, is delivering up the keys of the 
Alhambra, that time-honored and beautiful palace of his 
royal ancestors. A day of humiliation and sorrow it 
must have been on the part of this brave people, Avho for 
some eight hundred years had dwelt securely in the land 
of which their forefathers had taken possession. In 
what contrast with their crestfallen appearance, as they 
poured forth from the palace and the vanquished city, 
must have been the jubilant and triumphant entrance 
of the King and Queen of Spain, with their grand 
train of dukes, nobles, and cavaliers. These were days 
of the proudest military display. Glittering armor, 



yo COL UMB US A SKS TO O MUCH. 

gay banners, gorgeous plumes, grand music — all min- 
istered to the magnificence of the hour. 

It was also a signal religious victory. The crescent, 
that hated symbol of infidelity, must now give place 
to the glory of the cross. Catholicism, the religion of 
the Christian world at that time, was to place its arch- 
bishop in Granada ; and the whole world would 
admire the achievement as a most signal one for the 
Christian faith. 

In this supreme moment of a nation's joy, how shall 
Columbus be heard ? He must stand aside till the 
flood-tide of excitement has passed over. Meanwhile 
he is the guest of his firm and influential friend, 
Alonzo de Quintanilla, who will speak encouraging 
words to him. But have not the monarchs promised 
him an impartial hearing as soon as the war shall be 
over? And has not the Queen just requested his 
presence again at court ? 

By and by he is ushered in, when lo, a new per- 
plexity arises. This obscure adventurer asks alto- 
gether too much for himself. He will be admiral of 
the unknown seas into which he is about to sail, will 
be viceroy of the realms to be discovered, and one- 
tenth of all the profits from trade or conquest must be 
his. These astounding requirements take the court 
by surprise. Fernando de Talavera, confessor to the 
Queen, now elevated to the new archbishopric of 
Granada, is especially chagrined, and argues his oppo- 
sition to the terms most shrewdly. The honor of the 
crown will be compromised, he saj^s, by yielding to 
such exorbitant demands on the part of an obscure 
and foreign adventurer. If he should succeed, he will 



HE HAS GREA T ANTIC T PA TIONS. 



71 



Stand next to the throne itself, casting his immense 
shadow over the whole court. If he fail, as he prob- 
ably Mall, Spain, acceding to such high demands on 
such slender prospects of success, will become a 
laughing-stock to the world. This threadbare foreigner 
has everything to gain and nothing to lose. The 
crown takes the entire risk, and almost gives away 
the stupendous result, should it be accomplished. 

This is a shrewd putting of the case against Co- 
lumbus, and, coming as it does from the Queen's 
ghostly adviser, will settle it against him. But will 
he not accept terms a little less extravagant ? Various 
propositions are made, which are thought quite reason- 
able and even flattering. The monarchs are willing 
to pledge a great deal, but this obscure suitor, so 
strangely stubborn in his demands, will not yield one 
jot or tittle. This is a stupendous affair which he ex- 
pects to accomplish ; besides, he and his descendants 
after him must be suitably rewarded. He will in no- 
wise belittle the grand enterprise by accepting small 
pay. Then, this is but a stepping-stone to what he 
conceives to be an infinitely greater undertaking — the 
raising of a vast army to rescue the tomb of Christ 
from the infidel. Here is an immense reach of per- 
spective into the future — an unbounded hope. How 
can he accept less than the original demand ? Indeed, 
he seems to have become rich, for he offers to furnish 
one-eighth of the expense of the expedition, provided 
he may have the same proportion of the profits, which 
profits must have been additional to the one-tenth first 
asked for. This eighth part of the expense, it is sup- 
posed, was to be obtained through the generosity 



72 COLUMBUS LEAVES THE COURT. 

of the Pinions, who had so cordially espoused this 
cause. 

Neither side would yield, so, after all said and done, 
the negotiation was broken off. Talavera seemed to 
have given the finishing stroke to his scheme, as far as 
Spain was concerned ; Columbus therefore mounted his 
mule and turned toward France. 

We have no record of his thoughts, as he wended 
his way among the Andalusian mountains, toward 
Cordova ; but we may imagine some of his sad mus- 
ings. What a crushing disappointment, this! Memory 
passed over the events of some eighteen or twenty 
years since those realms beyond the " sea of dark- 
ness " first rose like a vision before him. During that 
time, how faithfully he had striven at different courts 
to secure the moderate aid he needed. He had tried 
to give away the new world, but no nation thought it 
worth while to accept it. The many years in Portugal, 
and the two councils called by the King, had sent a 
provision ship to the Cape de Verde Islands ! Genoa 
had made light of her w^ool-comber's son ! Seven 
tedious years of waiting in Spain had come to nothing ! 
Would France treat him any better ? Why was it he 
heard nothing from Henry VH. in Bngland, to whom 
he had sent his brother Bartholomew so long ago? 

But the cause is not yet lost in Spain. Great im- 
pressions have been made on great minds, and they 
cannot be reconciled to the loss of so grand an oppor- 
tunity. He who gave voice to this stirring conviction 
was Louis de Santangel, treasurer of the church funds 
in Aragon. He, along with Alonzo de Quintanilla, 
went at once into the presence of the Queen, and, with 



SANTANGEUS EL O^ UENT INTER CESSION. 73 

that spirit and eloquence which is born of intense emo- 
tion, he almost reproached her for lack of discernment 
and enterprise. As given by Fernando Columbus, his 
words were as follows : " He wondered to see that her 
Highness, who had always a great soul for all matters 
of moment and consequence, should now want the heart 
to enter upon an undertaking where so little was ven- 
tured, and which might redound so much to the glory 
of God and propagation of the faith, not without great 
benefit and honor to her kingdom and dominions, and 
such, in short, that if any other prince should undertake 
it, as the Admiral offered, the damage that would accrue 
to her crown was very visible, and that then she would 
with just cause be much blamed by her friends and 
servants, and reproached by her enemies, and all people 
would say she had well deserved that misfortune, and 
though she herself should never have cause to repent 
it, yet her successors would certainly feel the smart of 
it. Therefore, since the matter seemed to be grounded 
upon reason, and the Admiral who proposed it was a 
man of sense and wisdom, and demanded no other re- 
ward but what he should find, being willing to bear part 
of the charge, besides venturing his own person, her 
Highness ought not to look upon it as such an impossi- 
bility as those scholars made it, and that what they said, 
that it would be a reflection on her if the enterprise did 
not succeed as the Admiral proposed, was a folly, and 
he was of quite contrary opinion, rather believing they 
would be looked upon as generous and magnanimous 
princes for attempting to discover the secrets and won- 
ders of the world as other monarchs had done, and it 
had redounded to their honor. But though the event 



74 ISABELLA IS CONVINCED. 

were never so uncertain, yet a considerable sum of money 
would be well employed in clearing such a doubt. Be- 
sides that, the Admiral only demanded 2,500 crowns to 
fit the fleet, and therefore she ought not to despise that 
undertakinof, that it mio-ht not be said it was the fear of 
spending so small a sum that kept her back." 

Such are the mere fragments, probably, of what must 
have been a most moving appeal. Others, too, joined 
in the persuasive effort, particularly that most worthy 
friend of the Queen, the Marchioness of Moya, and, 
without doubt, de Quintanilla. 

Now, as never before, the grandeur of the proposed 
enterprise burst like a glorious vision on the imagina- 
tion of the Queen. But the King did not share her 
conviction, so she would stand virtually alone in the 
undertaking. Moreover, the national finances had been 
exhausted by the war just closed. Her enthusiasm was 
sufficient, however, to overcome all obstacles. " I un- 
dertake the enterprise for my own crown of Castile, and 
will pledge my jewels to raise the necessary funds,'' she 
exclaimed ; and this was, without doubt, the grandest 
resolution of her life — itself alone enough to distinguish 
her as the heroine of her age. 

But it was not necessary for her to pledge the jewels 
of her crown. Santangel stood ready to advance from 
the ecclesiastical funds of Aragon the seventeen thou- 
sand florins necessary to the undertaking, and the loan 
w^as dul}^ paid back out of the first gold from the New 
World, Ferdinand having used it to gild the royal sa- 
loon at Saragossa. 

Alonzo de Quintanilla and Santangel kissed the hand 
of the Queen in token of their gratification over her de- 



C OL UMB US' S PR I VIL E GE S. 



75 



cision, aud at once she despatched a messenger, who 
overtook Columbus on the bridge Pinos, some six miles 
on his way toward Cordova. He did not turn about at 
once, for he had learned to be cautious as to royal prom- 
ises ; but when all the circumstances of the Queen's new 
attitude were made known to him he came back to Santa 
Fe. 

Now the sovereigns were willing to concede to him 
his own terms, the originals of which are still preserved. 

Introductory Sentence to the Privileges of Columbus. 

" In the name of the Holy Trinity and eternal Unity, Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost, three persons really distinct in one divine es- 
sence, which lives and reigns forever without end." 

The things prayed for and which your Highnesses give and grant 
to Don Christopher Columbus to reward him in some manner for 
what he has discovered in the ocean, and for the voyage which now, 
with the assistance of God, he is about to undertake to those parts 
for the service of your Highnesses, are the following : 

First, that your Highnesses, as lords of the said ocean, may ap- 
point from this moment the said Don Christopher Columbus to be 
your Admiral in all the islands and continents which through his 
labor and industry shall be discovered or acquired in the said ocean, 
during his natural life ; and after his death his heirs and successors, 
one after the other perpetually, with all the pre-eminences and pre- 
rogatives which belong to the said office, in the same manner as 
Don Alphonso Enriques, your High Admiral of Castile, and the 
other predecessors in the said offices enjoyed them in their own 
districts. 

It so pleases their Highnesses. 

JOHN DE COLOMA. 

In like manner that your Highnesses may appoint the said Don 
Christopher Columbus to be your viceroy and governor-general over 
all the said islands and continents which, as has been said, he shall 



76 



COLUMBUS'S PRIVILEGES. 



discover or shall acquire in the aforesaid seas, and that for the 
government of each one, and any of them, he may make choice of 
three persons for every office, of v^^hom your Highnesses shall take 
and elect one who shall be most agreeable to you, and thus the 
lands which our Lord will permit us to discover and acquire for 
the service of your Highnesses will be better governed. 
It so pleases their Highnesses. 

JOHN DE COLOMA. 

Item : That all and whatsoever merchandise, whether pearls, pre- 
cious stones, gold, silver, drugs, and other things and merchandise 
whatsoever, of whatever kind, name, and manner, that shall be 
bought, exchanged, found, and gained, or shall be within the limits 
of the said admiralty, your Highnesses from this moment grant to 
the said Don Christopher Columbus, and will that he have and 
take for himself the tenth part of them, all expenses deducted that 
may have been incurred by it, so that of what shall remain free and 
net he may have and take for himself the tenth part, and dispose of 
it according to his pleasure, giving the other nine parts to your 
Highnesses. 

It so pleases their Highnesses. 

JOHN DE COLOMA. 

In like manner that if on account of the merchandise which shall 
be transported into the aforesaid islands and lands which shall be 
acquired or discovered as has been said, or which by other mer- 
chants during this time may be transported from those parts to 
ours, there should arise any dispute in the place where the said 
traffic is held and made, he requests your Highnesses that if by the 
pre-eminence of his office of Admiral the cognizance of such cause 
should belong to him, he or his substitute, and no other judge, may 
take cognizance of such causes, and thus may decide from hence- 
forward. 

It so pleases their Highnesses, if it belongs to the said office of 
Admiral, according as Admiral Don Alphonso Enriques and his 
other predecessors enjoyed it in their districts, it being just. 

JOfiN DE COLOMA. 

Item : That in all the vessels that shall be equipped for the said 
traffic and trade, always, where, and whatever time they are equipped. 



COLUMBUS GOES TO PAL OS. 



77 



the said Don Christopher Columbus may, if he chooses, contribute 
and pay the eighth ^ynrt of all that is spent in equipping them, and 
that he may take likewise the eighth part of the profits that may re- 
sult from such equipment. 

It so pleases their Highnesses. 

JOHN DE COLOMA. 

They are granted and expedited with the answers of their High- 
nesses at the end of each article. In the town of Santa F6, in the 
plain of Granada, the 17th day of April, in the year of the nativity 
of our Saviour Jesus Christ one thousand four hundred and ninety- 
two. 

I THE KING. I THE QUEEN. 

By command of the King and of the Qiieen : 

JOHN DE COLOMA. 
Registered Talcena. 

As Juan Perei5 aud the Pin2;ons, the principal helpers 
of Columbus, were at Palos, it was but natural that this 
seaport should become the headquarters of the expe- 
dition. And this came about the more readily, since, 
by some offence to the monarchs, the town had been 
ordered to furnish two armed vessels for royal service 
for a year.^ These might be turned over to Columbus. 
The royal order to this effect was duly read to the au- 
thorities and people of the town, from the porch of the 
church of St. George, on the 23d of May. The ves- 
sels referred to were to be ready in ten days ; and Co- 
lumbus was to furnish another, according to his own 
proposition. 

^"In consequence of the offence which we received at your hands, you 
were condemned by our council to render us the service of two caravels, 
armed, at your own expense, for the space of twelve months, whenever and 
wherever it should be our pleasure to demand the same." So ran the requisi- 
tion of the sovereigns. 



78 



THE PINZONS VOLUNTEER. 



But neither the royal mandate nor the promise of 
the pa}^ of seamen in armed vessels four months in ad- 
vance could move these sturdy sailors. Their heads 
were too full of terrors of the unknown seas, so com- 
monly believed in by the unenlightened and super- 
stitious in those days, to be led out on a vo^^age so uncer- 
tain and perilous. Neither could the vessels be pro- 
cured. Weeks passed and nothing could be done. 
Even when the sovereigns send an officer to force 
obedience to their orders, there is but little result ex- 
cept a general tumult and confusion. 

In this critical state of affairs the Pinzon brothers, 
Martin Alonzo and Vicente Yanez, both very able nav- 
igators, volunteered to enter the expedition, and 
offered to furnish one vessel. They had manj^ rela- 
tions, friends, and employees in the place, and were 
persons of strong influence ; so the other two vessels 
were finally secured, possibly both were pressed into 
the service, and quite a number were persuaded to 
help make up the crews. But it became necessary to 
proclaim freedom to those civilly and criminally ob- 
noxious to the law,^ in case they would embark in the 
enterprise, in order that a sufficient number might be 
prevailed on to go. Indeed, some of the number, it 
would seem, were even compelled.^ Under such cir- 
cumstances everything moved on reluctantly^ and 
with difficulty. Those employed to fit out the vessels 

^ "The ship of Columbus was, therefore a refuge for criminals and run- 
away debtors, a cave of Adullam for the discontented and the desperate. To 
have to deal with such a community was not one of the least of Columbus's 
difficulties."— i7e//5, Col., pp. 80, 81. 

* There is reason to believe that this most desperate part of the crews was 
quartered on the Santa Maria, and that the Pinzons had the better element 
—persons who volunteered under friendly influences. 



COLUMBUS'S SHIPS. 79 

did their work badly ; and when ordered to do it over 
ran away. Some who had volnnteered repented, and 
disaffected others. Some deserted and hid them- 
selves. Nothing went smoothty and with good will. 

Look now at the outfit for this unparalleled voyage. 
The Santa Maria., said to be an old vessel fitted and 
rigged over, is of moderate size — possibly some 60 feet 
long and 25 feet wide — and is the onlj^ one of the three 
vessels which has a complete deck. She is commanded 
by Columbus and contains the most motley portion of 
those making up the crews. The Piiita., with a high 
cabin in the rear for the officers, and also a high fore- 
castle for the common sailors, is called a caravel, and is 
sailed by Martin Alonzo Pinzon. The Nina — " Baby " — 
commanded by Vicente Yaiiez Pinzon, is similar, but has 
lateen or three-cornered sails. The entire number who 
embarked in these vessels, each capable of carrying 
about one hundred tons, was, perhaps, one hundred and 
twenty. 

According to the date of Columbus's birth which we 
have accepted as probable, he would now be about forty- 
six years of age. If " an impenetrable cloud of ob- 
scurity " rests on his earlier years, and if, as Prescott 
says, " the discrepancies among the earliest authorities 
are such as to render hopeless any attempt to settle with 
precision the chronology of Columbus's movements 
previous to his first voyage, one thing is certain — sonie- 
where., somehow, he had received a masterly discipline as 
a seaman. His skill in keeping reckoning at sea, in 
prognosticating the weather, and particularly- in dis- 
cerning the indications of nearness to land, was simply 
marvellous — almost superhuman. And any one who 



8o THE GREAT SEAMAN. 

could outride storm and tempest, amongst rocks and 
shoals and in mid-ocean, with such inferior and crazy 
ships as were some of those in which he made his voy- 
ages, must indeed have been master of his craft. The im- 
proved compass and the astrolabe, those important and 
wonderful instruments of his time, must have done 
their best service in his hands. As a nautical astrono- 
mer he was so familiar with the stars and constellations 
as to feel " sure and safe " anywhere in the ocean seas ; 
for by them he could at any time determine his exact 
position, as if by a " prophetic vision." Whether he 
passed his early life in the more honorable pursuits of 
seamanship for his day, or whether he was trained 
under the French colors of piratical notoriety, the fact 
that he could emerge from a life of such unfavorable 
influences as were those of the sailor of his day even at 
the best, with such stores of valuable and important 
knowledge, such sympathy with and insight into the 
grandest philosophical deductions of his age, such sin- 
gleness of purpose, indomitable perseverance, good tact, 
heroic courage, and ardent piety, would seem to be a 
most remarkable outcome — one of the most remarkable 
in all history. If he were a pirate, as some say, he was 
surely the most noble and useful person ever found in 
that class. 




CHAPTER V. 

THE FIRST VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

N Friday morning, the 3d of August, before 
the sun cast his rays across the ocean, the 
sails were unfurled for the distant and mys- 
terious voyage. Never was there a more solemn em- 
barkation. There is always a peculiar uncertainty 
overshadowing him who goes out upon the sea. How 
many a ship well rigged and manned, with a certain 
port in view, never returns nor is heard from again. 
But this voyage was unlike any other of all time. 
Three small vessels were putting out into unknown 
seas, without any definite landing place. Once and 
for all, a line was about to be projected from one side 
of the globe to the other. Ever afterwards others 
might follow in the wake, but this voyage could be 
made but once, and admitted of no parallel. All the 
expeditions along West Africa and all previous naviga- 
tion had been mere coasting. Taking the fullest ad- 
vantage of the late improvements of the compass and 
the astrolabe, and following out the natural conse- 
quence of that astounding doctrine in philosophy, 
the sphericit}^ of the earth, this was to be the first thor- 
oughly independent and scientific voyage. And how 
worthy and momentous were its results ! 

Columbus and his men, conscious of the perilous- 
ness of the undertaking, felt themselves overshadowed 
by the presence of the Infinite. The former had 



82 THE DARK SEA. 

confessed himself to tlie good prior of La Rabida 
and taken the communion, and the several ofiScers 
and crews had followed his example. The whole 
community, witnessing the solemn scene, was deeply 
awed and in a state of mourning. Husbands, sons, 
friends, and neighbors were going out with scarcely 
a possible hope of returning. Science and natural 
history have done so much to make us familiar and 
at home in every part of the world that we can 
form no conception of the superstitious terrors which 
then prevailed in reference to the boundless unknown. 
Sea-serpents, mermaids, and monsters having no affinity 
or analogy with the systems of nature were the imagined 
inhabitants of the unexplored seas. The equatorial re- 
gion was a belt of impassable heat, where the very 
ocean boiled beneath the vertical rays of the sun. The 
sphericity of tlie earth would admit of sailing away 
down hill to any extent, but to return up grade against 
wind and wave would be impossible. Scarcely less per- 
ilous were the clouds above. Not the " albatross " of 
the " ancient mariner," but the great " rock," a bird so 
gigantic as to seize a ship in his talons and bear it away 
to the clouds to gobble up its men, and breaking it in 
pieces drop the fragments on the waves below, was one 
of the terrors of the untried waste of waters. 

Maps and charts of those times filled up the unknown 
parts of the ocean with hideous monstrosities of the 
imagination ; and the Mohammedans, whose religion 
would not admit of such idolatrous art, imaged a huge 
black hand in the horizon. 

Toscanelli placed the Canary Islands in the same 
latitudinal line with Antilla and Cipango, on the way to 



COLUMBUS AT THE CANARIES. 



83 



India ; and as Columbus sailed essentially by his map 
sent to bim in 1474, be went first to tbose islands to get 
bis starting point westward. 

Peter Mart3'r adds that he went to the Canary- Islands 
" to the intent there to refresh his ships with fresh water 
and fuel before he committed himself to this so laborious 
a voj^age.'- 

Nothing of importance occurred on this part of the 
route except that the Pinto's rudder gave way. This 




is supposed to have been no mere accident, but a trick 
on the part of the owners, the vessel having probably 
been pressed into service. The captain, Martin Alonzo 



84 



THE FIRES OF TENERIFFE. 



Pinzon, being an ingenious and experienced seaman, 
twice secured the rudder by cords, and the craft reached 
the Canaries in safety the 9th of August. But this in- 
cident made Columbus uneasy, and he made a thorough 
effort to get another vessel at these islands ; but after 
spending three weeks to no purpose the Pinta was ca- 
reened in order to have her leaks stopped, and furnished 
with a new rudder ; and the lateen sails of the Nina 
having been replaced by square ones the squadron sailed 
on its way on the 6th of September. 

More than a month had passed since the little fleet 
left Palos. Quite a detention this must have been to 
the anxious Admiral ; but the time was not altogether 
lost, for the stories of land to the westward, with which 
the atmosphere of these islands abounded, must have 
done something to brace up the courage of his unwilling 
crews. 

They were, however, in an intense state of excite- 
ment. Almost anything out of the ordinary way filled 
them with alarm. The streaming fires from the ma- 
jestic peak of Teneriffe, one of the Canaries, had af- 
frighted some of the more ignorant ; but after Columbus's 
explanation of the volcanic forces they were pacified. 
All went well now till the last point of land faded from 
the horizon, and there was nothing in sight but "the 
fruition of the heaven and the water." Then the mag- 
nitude and fearful uncertainty of the undertaking 
startled their wild and untutored fancies. They im- 
agined they should never see land again, and the near 
prospect of death in the " sea of darkness " overwhelmed 
them. These emotional spirits of a southern clime 
burst into tears, and some even broke out into loud 
lamentations. 



THE SAILORS STEER BADLY. 85 

Now Columbus's brilliant imagination and eloquent 
tongue stood Him in good stead. He drew a most vivid 
picture of Marco Polo's kingdoms of the Orient, and 
promised them great rewards if they would persevere to 
the end. Had he landed in the empires of Tartary in- 
stead of in the New World of savages and undeveloped 
resources he would no doubt have been but too happy 
in making all these promises good. 

These poor ignorant sailors were soothed for a time, 
but the undercurrent of intense fear continued, and their 
paroxysms could at an}- moment be brought on by the 
slightest untoward incident. And they steered badly, 
causing the vessel to fall to leeward, toward the north- 
east, for which the Admiral reprimanded them repeat- 
edly. 

Columbus, expecting to find some of his isles of India 
just about where the Great Antilles are, had such a 
definite notion as to where he should reach land that 
he gave orders to the vessels to la}^ by, in case of sepa- 
ration, from midnight till daylight, after they had sailed 
seven hundred leagues, for they might then confidently 
expect to find land. 

Here, also, occurred that precaution on his part which 
has been so severely censured by some of his critics. 
He must have been keenly sensible of the fact that, ex- 
cepting a few of the ofiicers, he had not the hearts of the 
men who sailed with him. They had either been overper- 
suaded or literally pressed into the serv-ice. They were^ 
moreover, for the most part, a very crude and excitable 
people, with heads much too thick to accommodate the 
clear and luminous notions of the Admiral. The danger 
of mutiny was imminent every hour, and Columbus 



§6 THE DOUBLE RECKONING. 

would have been obtuse, indeed, had he not realized his 
peril. Hence it was that he kept a double log or record 
of the distance passed over ; the one, exact, for his own 
private use, the other diminished carefully each day for 
general inspection, in order that the crews might not 
know how far they were from home. In view of the 
fact that, in cases of emergency amounting to necessity, 
casuists and moral philosophers of all time have justified 
instances of deception, and considering the moral crude- 
ness of the age in which Columbus lived, it would not 
only be uncharitable, but even unjust, to stigmatize him 
as deceitful because of the few instances of this kind 
which occurred during his life. 

Others, again, have ridiculed the possibility of such an 
advantage being taken, believing the pilots and navi- 
gators of his crews to have been capable of detecting any 
such ruse. But let it be remembered how incomplete 
the method of reckoning was in those days. The eye 
noted the speed of the ship, and the distance per hour 
being estimated, the hour-glass afforded the multiple. 
And in how many instances of difference of opinion be- 
tween Columbus and his men he proved in the end to 
be correct. Hence the confidence reposed in his supe- 
rior nautical skill was altogether remarkable. Then, 
too, his open figures of the distance passed over were 
greater than those of the pilots of the vessels. 

Tuesday, September nth, they saw a large fragment 
of the mast of a vessel, apparently of 120 tons, but could 
not pick it up. 

On the 13th, for the first time in the history of that 
newly-improved instrument, certain peculiar variations 
in the needle of the compass were observed. After 



VARIATION OF' THE COMPASS. 87 

pointing several degrees to the northeast of the polar 
star it gradually moved westward to the line of no 
variation, and then beyond to the westward. This was 
a sufficient cause of alarm to the sailors. Must they 
not now be in some part of the world where the ordinary 
laws of nature did not operate, and where the forces to 
be met could not be calculated ? ^ 

Columbus cast about for an explanation. He told his 
pilots that the magnetic needle did not point directly to 
the polar star, but to some point in its vicinity, around 
which that body itself described a circle. This hypoth- 
esis quieted their fears, and in course of time satisfied 
Columbus himself 

On the 14th the men on the Niiia saw a tropical bird 
which they did not think ever went more than twenty 
leagues from land. 

Imagine the intense interest with which the changes 
in sea and sky must have been noted by every observ- 
ing person in the crews ! On the night of the 14th of 
September a flaming meteor went streaming through 
the star-lit heavens, and dropped into the sea onl}^ a 
few miles distant. In that clear atmosphere of the 
tropics, and on the immense unbroken expanse of 
waters, such a phenomenon would have been striking 
enough to any one, but to the affrighted imaginations 
of these men this trailing flame, burning for twelve or 
fifteen seconds, was simply terrific. Again it was 
necessary for the philosophic resources of Columbus 
to be taxed for an explanation. 

The vessels were now sailing directly in the current 

^ In after years Columbus thought that a study of this variation of the 
magnetic needle might aflord a ready way for ascertaining longitude, the line 
of no variation being a meridian line. 



88 THE TRADE-WINDS. 

of the trade-winds, which, including a belt of several 
degrees, follows the sun from east to west. This in- 
teresting and important fact in nature was not yet 
known, and it seemed strange and alarming that they 
should have no variation whatever in the wind. Would 
it forever drive them away from home, and never 
change, so as to make their return possible ? Colum- 
bus, however, was all confidence. Having no sym- 
pathy whatever with these fears, he was simply enjoy- 
ing the amenity of nature, as the wind abaft was 
wafting them over a quiet sea, without the necessity 
of changing a sail for many days. On the i6th, 
occasional showers rendered the air yet more salu- 
brious ; and to the keen senses of our seaman there 
wanted only the song of the nightingale to make the 
balmy days and nights like those in Andalusia, 

The next thing which attracted their attention was 
the immense tracts of sea-weeds, or Saragossa Sea, into 
which they suddenly came. Here, too, they saw some 
tunny fishes^ ; and Columbus picked up a live crab. 
As their vessels ploughed through the weeds, some of 
the timid sailors almost looked for the tree-tops of 
sunken islands ; but Columbus, ever ready with some 
analogy found in the ancient classics, now recalled 
Aristotle's account of the ships from Cadiz, which, 
sailing along by the straits of Gibraltar, were driven 
a long w^ay west by a violent east wind, and encoun- 
tered immense fields of weeds, among which they saw 
many tunny fishes. It could not be possible that they 

1 The tunny fish is a huge species of mackerel. This was no doubt the 
tunny of Europe, attaining a length of 15 to 20 feet, and sometimes weighing 
1,000 pounds, a food-fish which these sailors musthavemet previously in the 
Mediterranean. 



BIRD TOKENS. 89 

had yet reached India ; but these weeds must have 
been torn by the storms from rocks and river-banks, 
and they were no doubt approaching some of the vari- 
ous islands which Toscanelli had laid down on his map 
as l3dng en route to Mangi and Cathay. How complete 
was the delusion of our hero as to the nearness of the 
shores of Eastern Asia ! 

iVbout this time several species of birds were seen ; 
but the accounts are so imperfect as to make it im- 
possible to identify them. The alcatraz^ now flying 
about the vessels, must have been a species of gull ; 
and the 7'abo de jtmco^ with long feathers in the centre 
of the tail, called rush-tail by the Spaniards and straw- 
tail by the French, was probably the elegant tropic- 
bird — possibly a species of skua. As to the land-birds 
which they thought spent part of the night on board 
ship about the 20th, they must have been mistaken, 
for they were now about midway from the Canaries to 
the West Indies. 

Again they had reached clear w^ater, and the ships 
were crowding all sail. The steady wind was carrying 
them along swiftly over a sea as smooth as glass, and 
ever}^ eye w^as on the alert, hoping to gain the annual 
pension of ten thousand maravedis wdiich the sover- 
eigns had promised to him who should first see land. 
The Pinta^ being the swiftest sailor, kept ahead. 
Clouds of birds were fl3ang toward the north, and Alar- 
tin Alonzo Pinzon thought he saw land in that direc- 
tion, but Columbus kept steadily to the west, believing, 
as heretofore, that land was surely to be found in that 
course. 

On the 2 2d the wind was from the west, and the 



90 THE MUTIN1. 

ships were obliged to tack to the northwest. This 
cheered Columbus, aud he wrote in his journal : " This 
wind was very necessary to me, for my crew had grown 
much alarmed, dreading that they never should meet 
in these seas with a fair wind to return to Spain." 

By and by the wind nearly died away, and the un- 
easy crew began to gather in knots, and to discuss the 
necessit}^ of turning back. They had come far enough 
to test the wild notion of land in the west ; the cook 
was reporting the provisions as fully half consumed ; 
the vessels were beginning to show the effects of the 
long voyage ; the chances of being able to reach home 
were slender enough now ; what hope of return w^ould 
they have if they still continued the mad voyage ? As 
to Columbus, he was a mere visionary, his head so 
turned with his wild notion that he set no value on 
his life anyway. But they need not be over particular 
about him. He had but few friends and not a few en- 
emies. They might push him overboard, and say he fell 
into the sea while indulging his constant habit of gaz- 
ing at the stars. No one would lay the matter to heart 
or ask close questions about him ; and they would be 
looked upon as heroes, who, having explored the wide 
ocean, had settled the fact that land was not to be 
found to the westward. 

The Admiral overheard their mutterings and noticed 
their " black looks ;" but he resolved to be firm and 
risk his life if necessary. " The sea was calm because 
they were approaching land," he said. " Did they not 
notice the many flights of birds and other signs of 
landfall ? " Again he would remind them of the dis- 
pleasure of the sovereigns and the punishment due 
them if they hindered the voyage. 



LAND I LAND! ^l 

But on the 25th of September the wind favored 
them again, and, as there is " nothing like a freshening 
breeze," a better spirit prevailed. The vessels sailed 
close together, so closely that Columbus and Martin 
Alonzo Pinzon chatted familiarly, and the latter tossed 
to the former a chart loaned him some days before, 
and now secured by a cord as it passed from one 
vessel to the other, '' According to this map," said 
Martin Alonzo, "we should now be near Cipango and 
the other islands near it." " That is quite possible," 
said Columbus, " but, on the other hand, the ships may 
have been turned somewhat from their proper course 
by the strong currents so apparent, or the pilots may 
be mistaken in their reckoning, and we may not have 
sailed so far as they report." 

Now Columbus and his officers on the Santa Maria 
gather about the map, and try to make out their exact 
present position in the ocean ; and soon the}'- are 
startled by a shout from the Pinta^ "Land! Land! 
Seiior, I claim my reward ! " cried Martin Alonzo Pin- 
zon, from the high stern of his vessel, and pointing to 
the southwest, where there was indeed the appearance 
of land in the distance. Columbus fell upon his 
knees and devoutly thanked God. Martin Alonzo 
as devoutly repeated the Gloria in excelsis^ the several 
crews within the range of his voice joining in solemn 
concert. 

Now every heart beat with joyful expectation. The 
sailors scrambled to the mast-head and clung about 
the rigging, straining their eyes for a glimpse of the 
supposed land. Throughout the night Columbus 
stood the ships in that direction, but the morning 



92 



GOOD CHEER. 



revealed nothing save the wild stretch of the ocean. 
They had been allured by a deceptive evening cloud. 
Again they sailed westward. 

But this delusion seems to have done the sailors 
good. They are decidedly cheerful, and as the 
weather is mild and the sea delightfully tranquil for 
several days, they amuse themselves by jumping over- 
board and swimming abreast the ships. Schools of 
dolphins raise their backs out of the waters, and there is 
an abundance of flying-fishes, " which are about a span 
long, and have two little wings like a bat ; they fly 
about a pike high from the water, and a musket-shot 
in length, more or less, and sometimes they drop upon 
the ships." Here, too, they see schools of fishes with 
" gilt backs," some of which they catch. Are not the 
flights of various birds also increasing ? The elegant 
tropic-birds, the jaegers chasing the pelicans and 
gulls and forcing them to disgorge their food, are all 
species which do not go more than twenty leagues from 
land. Signs of land increase and every one feels 
happy. Every now and then the cry of "land" is 
heard, until the false report becomes demoralizing, 
and it is necessary for the Admiral to afiirm that, if 
any one's announcement does not prove true after 
three days' sailing, he shall forfeit the reward, even 
though he may afterwards sight land first. But the 
Nzna^ sailing ahead, becomes assured. On Sunday 
morning, October 7th, at sunrise, she hoists a flag and 
fires a gun in signal of land ; but again all signs fail. 

A general depression now steals over the crevv^s, and 
even Martin Alonzo Pinzon begins to doubt whether 
they are sailing in the right direction. 



THE RECKONING. 93 

They had now sailed, according to Columbus's private 
reckoning some ^o^ leagues. His open figures were 
584 ; his pilot's, 578 ; the reckoning of the Nina., two 
days later, was 540 leagues ; that of the Pijita^ 634. 
All knew that they had sailed a great distance, but 
just as the crews were becoming desperate the small 
land-birds began to fl}^ in clouds to the southwest. 
This was a sure sign of land. Had not the Portuguese 
been constantly guided b}^ the fiight of land-birds in 
discovering the islands off the west coast of Africa ? 
These birds are going southwest to spend the night, 
or are migrating for the winter. Columbus, on the 
evening of this same Sunda^^, bent his course to the 
southwest, thus conforming to the bird-omen, and at 
the same time gratifying his men. 

And the small land-birds continue to fly, many of 
them bright and beautiful in color. Some alight 
familiarly about the rigging of the ships, and one can 
hear their notes as they pass over at night. Even the 
heron, the pelican, and the duck which the}^ see, all 
fly in the same southwestward course, and the 
Admiral's keen sense of smell seems to detect the 
fragrance of breezes from off the land. 

Notwithstanding all these signs of landfall, on the 
evening of the third day of sailing in this direction, as 
the sun sank into a " shoreless ocean," there began to be 
a universal clamor to put about the ships and return 
home. 

Columbus attempted to reason with the discontents, 
but finding it useless he became peremptory, and 
declared that as the sovereigns had sent them out to 
find land, and as the signs of land were constantly 



04 SIGNS OF LAND. 

multiplying, tliey would not return until they had 
fulfilled their mission. The notion that he compro- 
mised with them, and promised to return if they did 
not find land in three days, is not in accordance with 
the evidences in the case, and has been discarded by 
every competent critic. 

Thick and fast now come the facts in support of Co- 
lumbus. Fresh-water algcB appeared, and a kind of 
green fish keeping about rocks in rivers. Who could 
discredit that fresh branch of thorn ornamented with 
bright red berries ? — or that green rush floating by ? — 
or that bit of board ? — or that staff so skilfully carved ? 
As these welcome objects were picked up from the 
waters, and passed around among the admiring crews, 
no one any longer doubted ; and every one was on a 
sharp lookout for the much-desired land. 

Impressive indeed must have been that memorable 
evening of October nth, before the landfall. A fresh 
breeze was wafting the vessels swiftly over a tranquil 
sea, and the evening sky was bright above them. As 
usual, the sailors had sung their evening hymn to the 
Virgin. Then Columbus addressed his crew. His 
whole being was deeply moved, and he spoke like one 
intensely conscious of some great event just at hand. 
He was assured that the momentous achievement for 
which his whole life had been a struggle was within 
a few hours of its consummation. Every fibre of his 
being must have vibrated to his words, as he reminded 
those about him of the smooth sea over which, in the 
providence of God, they had sailed with a favoring 
breeze for so many days ; of the many signs of land 
which had cheered their hopes in time of depression ; 



THE LIGHT. 95 

of his expectation, on leaving the Canaries, of finding 
land when they should have sailed westward seven 
hundred leagues. He believed they would sight land 
that night, and promised a velvet doublet as an ad- 
ditional reward to that promised by the monarchs to 
him who should first announce the landfall. 

Throughout the day there was a heavier sea than 
they had seen in all the voyage, and they had sailed 
more rapidly than usual ; and now, as the night set- 
tled down upon them, the vessels were still speeding 
their course through the swelling waves at an un- 
wonted rate, the Piiita leading the way. A delightful 
animation prevailed. Everj^ e3^e was on the alert. Co- 
lumbus had seated himself on the lofty cabin at the 
stern of his vessel. No one slept that night. Every 
bosom swelled with an unbounded expectation. A new 
world was just at hand ! What sort of a world would 
it be? 

About ten o'clock Columbus thought he saw a light. 
He called one of his principal men, Pedro Gutierrez, 
and he also thought he saw it. He then called a sec- 
ond person, Rodrigo Sanchez, who, after a time, was 
equally fortunate. The light rose and fell, like a 
torch in a boat tossed upon the water. Evidently the 
gleam of this distant luminary was faint, and made 
certain, or perhaps barel}^ probable, by the observ^ations 
of the three. 

At two o'clock in the morning the Pinta fired a gun 
in signal of land. Rodrigo de Treana was the fortunate 
observer whose eye first detected the almost even out- 
line of an island along the horizon, about two leagues 
distant. There is no friend of Columbus but will re- 



96 



LAND INDEED. 



gret that lie should afterwards have accepted the re- 
ward as adjudged to himself, simply because he saw a 
light. Who would not sympathize with this poor 
sailor, not only for the loss of his ten thousand mara- 
vedis and velvet doublet, but for the loss of that honor- 
able distinction which his watchfulness and good-luck 
so richly deserved ? It is said he was so chagrined 
that he forsook his country and his religion and, go- 
ing into x'Vfrica, turned Mussulman. 

This time there could be no mistake. There lay the 
long, level, forest-clad island, its silvery lights and 
dark shadows made clear by the large moon standing 
high overhead. 

They cast their anchors. " All sails were furled, 
leaving only the stormsail, which is the square sail 
without bonnets, and they lay hove-to, awaiting the 
day." iyColumbiis.) 

" When I regard this achievement," says Castelar, 
" the most living, evident, and effulgent lesson it bears 
is the triumph of faith. To cross the seas of life, 
naught suffices save the bark of faith. In that bark 
the undoubting Columbus set sail, and at his journey's 
end found a new world. Had that world not then ex- 
isted, God would have created it in the solitude of the 
Atlantic, if to no other end than to reward the faith 
and the constancy of that great man." 




CHAPTER VI. 

THE FIRST LANDING. 

O one loitered on this bright morning of the 
1 2th of October. In the gray dawn, the na- 
tives, watching from the shore, could see the 
ships — gigantic phantoms in their e3^es. Then they 
beheld the boat manned and nearing the shore. At 
the command of Columbus, the crews had all been reg- 
ularly attired for the occasion. The leading person- 
ages, at least, were probably clad in armor of glistening 
steel ; while he, standing in the bow of the long boat, 
and giving to the morning breeze the flag of Castile, 
wore, in addition, some scarf or drapery of bright 
scarlet. The Pinzons bore " the two flags of the green 
cross, which the Admiral carried on all the ships as 
signals, having an F and a Y, and above each letter a 
crown, one on one side of the cross and the other on 
the other." Bright Castilian plumes waved, and much 
of the details of dress was in the brilliant colors of the 
age. Quite unlike the still paddle of the Indian's 
canoe was the united plash of the double row of long 
oars. 

They reached the shore in that most delightful part 
of a bright day — at sunrise. Gorgeous must have been 
the tints of that early hour in the tropics. The tall, 
majestic trees were clad in an exuberant foliage, the 
most novel and strikingly varied in form. The hu- 
mid atmosphere was laden with grateful odors. The 



^8 THE LANDING. 

happy birds were giving their matin song. Colum- 
bus, whose senses are said to have been remarkably- 
acute, and who possessed the brilliant imagination 
and high sensibility of the poet, would not only com- 
prehend the grand scene, but would invest it with the 
varied charms of his own bright fancy. It was per- 
haps the supreme moment of his life. A happier 
hour he could scarcely have known than when he 
stepped on the shores of that new world which his 
imagination had so long beheld in the distance. 

When he landed he fell on his knees, then forward 
upon his face, kissed the earth, returned thanks to 
God, and, with tears of joy, offered the following 
prayer : " Lord God, eternal and omnipotent, by thy 
sacred word the heavens, the earth, and the sea were 
created ; blessed and glorified be thy name, praised be 
thy majesty, which is exalted through thy humble 
servant, in that by him thy sacred name may be made 
known and declared in this remote part of the earth." ^ 

In this solemn act of devotion he was cordially 
joined by the whole company. Rising to his feet, he 
drew his sword and planted the standard of Castile, 
thus taking possession of the new country in the name 
of the sovereigns of Spain. In accordance with the 
pious emotions of the hour, San Salvador, or Holy 
Saviour,^ was announced as the name of this island, 
which the natives called Guanahani. 

^ By order of the sovereigns of Spain, this same prayer was afterwards used 
by Balboa, Cortez, and Pizarro in their discoveries. 

^ Following the oldest maps and the description by Columbus, it becomes 
clear that Walling's Island and not the present San Salvador is Guanahani, 
on which the great discoverer first landed. See R. H. Major's Select Letters 
on Columbus, pp. 60, 61, Introduction. See also Becker's Landfall of Colum- 
bus and Cronau's Amerika. 



APOL O GIBS AND ENTREA TIES. g^ 

The several crews, with their officers, now gathered 
about him somewhat in the order of rank. Near him 
stood the Pinzon brothers, his associate captains, each 
holding a banner of the green cross, ^ having on one 
side the letter F, and on the other side the letter Y, to 
represent Fernando and Ysabel. Bright golden crowns 
surmounted or in some way ornamented these beauti- 
ful standards. Other officers found their places ac- 
cording to their importance and rank. All now gave 
the oath of allegiance to Columbus as admiral and 
viceroy of the new country. 

The scene which now followed must have been at 
once amusing and gratifying to those who sympa- 
thized with the Admiral. The craven souls who had 
shown disrespect and even malice toward him were 
now all suddenly turned about. Pressing upon him 
on every side, some embracing him, some kissing his 
hands, some kneeling at his feet, they acknowledged 
their faults, and begged his pardon. Some, impressed 
with his dignity and authority, which all had just ac- 
knowleged, asked to be remembered in respect to such 
favors as he in his high position might be able to 
confer. 

During the ceremonies, Herrera says, a great mul- 
titude of the natives were looking on, and that the 
Admiral, believing them to be "a gentle and simple 
people, and seeing them stand gazing on the Chris- 
tians, astonished at their beards, white faces, and 
clothes, gave them some red caps, glass beads, and 

1 It is difficult to tell from the original account whether this is a banner with 
a green cross, or a green banner in the shape of a cross. I think it was the 
latter. 



lOo CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES. 

such like tilings, which they highly valued ; the 
Spaniards no less admiring those people, their mien 
and shape." 

Probably no man was ever more disappointed than 
was Columbus in the character of the people whom he 
found in this new countr3^ His imagination had 
teemed with the brilliant conceptions of oriental life — 
costly apparel, ornaments of gold and precious stones, 
palatial residences and splendid appointments in gen- 
eral, but here were only naked savages, tattooed and 
painted in the most hideous styles, and living in wig- 
wams, or at most in mere huts and hovels. Nothing 
could be further removed from the supposed luxuries 
of India than the simple and destitute manner of life 
among these aborigines. 

And yet there was something fascinating in their 
native strength and beauty and in their simple ways. 
Their stalwart and well-rounded forms, their bold 
features, bright eyes, and exuberant black hair, and 
their clear brown complexion when not spoiled with 
paint, were all exceedingly impressive. Not a few of 
these people were really beautiful. And, having a fair 
conception of that grand triad of human knowledge — 
the personality of God, the immortalit}^ of the soul, 
and moral accountability — they were by no means a 
low order of savage. Then, this innocent nakedness, 
dwelling in booths, feeding upon the simple and spon- 
taneous products of nature, and almost having every- 
thing in common, was it not precisely that life of 
happy ease and freedon from care which poets, philos- 
ophers, and artists love to depict ? Columbus, suppos- 
ing that he was in some of the ruder outskirts of 



SURPRISE OF THE NATIVES. iqi 

India, called these people Indians, and, as nothing sticks 
like a name, they are called so to this da}^, though for 
hundreds of years the world has known Columbus's 
mistake. 

When the Spaniards and the Indians met, the latter 
were, of course, even more astounded than the former, 
for they were taken entirely by surprise. That huge 
sailing craft, gliding so majestically over the water as 
its canvas was swelled by the breeze, was something 
for which they had no name, and which they supposed 
came from some other w orld. The white men's beards 
which they stroked and examined so curiously — the 
Indians had no beards — and their white skins, surely 

> were not of this world. Then the superior intelligence 
and grace of culture, which some at least of these 
strangers manifested, could but confirm their notion 
that these wonderful people had come down from 
heaven. "They cried with loud voices: 'Come and 
see the men who have come from heaven. Bring them 
victuals and drink.' "^ Would that they might never 

' have had occasion to change their opinion ! 

At first the natives fled aw^ay in fear, as the boats 
approached the shore ; but, after gazing on the stran- 
gers cautiously at a distance, they somehow gained 
confidence, and gradually approached them. They 
were harmless, gentle creatures. The few that carried 
bows and arrows, or wooden lances with the points 
hardened in the fire or tipped with a bit of flint or the 

^ " The idea that the white men came down from heaven was universally 
entertained by the inhabitants of the New World. When, in the course of 
subsequent voyages, the Spaniards conversed with the Cacique Nicaragua, he 
inquired how they came down from the skies, whether flying, or whether 
they descended on the clouds." — Irving from Herrera. 



102 PRESENTS TO THE NATIVES. 

tooth or bones of a fish, were not disposed to use these 
weapons. They had no iron implements of any kind, 
and evidently were not practised in warfare. Columbus 
was impressed with their simplicity when, on handing 
them a sword, they grasped it by the edge and cut 
themselves. How excited they were when Columbus 
opened up his treasures — gay caps, bright colored 
glass beads, little tinkling bells, such as those devoted 
to falconry put on their hawks. He had learned the 
importance of such trifles from the experiences of the 
Portuguese on the coasts of Africa. Nothing takes 
the eye of a savage like bright colors, and those tiny 
bells were perhaps the nearest approach to a musical 
instrument they had ever heard. How their eyes 
sparkled with delight as they put the beads around 
their necks, and how gleefully they skipped about when 
they jingled the bells ! 

The news soon spread. At the early dawn of the 
next morning the natives came in crowds, and were so 
eager to get to the ships that some of them, plunging 
into the water, swam out to the Spaniards ; but most 
of them came in their canoes, hollowed out from a 
single tree in the form of a tray, some of which held 
fifty persons. " They rowed with an oar like a baker's 
peel, and wonderfully swift." In the great rush of the 
crowd some of these canoes were upset; but the 
owners swam like fishes, and in a few minutes had 
righted them, bailed them out with their calabashes, 
and were paddling along again, without the incon- 
venience of wet clothes. 

True to the nature of the savage, they all wanted 
gew-gaws and ornaments. They had not come to beg, 



BARTERING WITH THE NATIVES. 103 

however, but to buy. If their articles of exchange 
were few in number, the}^ were all the more liberal 
with them as to quantity. They brought tamed par- 
rots in great numbers, immense balls of cotton yarn, 
and bread called cassava,^ made from a root which they 
cultivated. As they had no conception of comparative 
values, they gave great quantities of their commodities 
for a few trifles. 

What kind of ornaments are those which some of 
these savages wear in their noses? Ah, that is gold ! 
Nothing could more inflame the breasts of these Span- 
iards than gold ! So the hawk's bells and other 
trinkets were freely exchanged for this precious metal, 
on which the natives seemed to set but little value. 

All this bartering was carried on at a great incon- 
venience, for the parties could communicate only by 
signs. As gold was the one thing above all others 
wanted in Spain, Columbus pressed the natives to 
make known where they obtained it. They pointed 
to the southwest. They also gave him the impression 
that there was land in the northwest, whence the peo- 
ple came to the southwest for gold. These vague com- 
munications could readily be misconstrued by the Ad- 
miral's vivid imagination. He felt assured that he 
must be in the rich countrj^ which Marco Polo had de- 
scribed ; and a certain king which the Indians repre- 
sented as living in a house, the roof of which was 
covered with plates of gold, he believed to be the 
Grand Khan of Tartary. 

Having explored the island and become satisfied 

^ A bread very ingeniously made from the yucca root, from which is also 
derived our tapioca. 



I04 CHARMING SCENERY. 

that it was not in all respects suitable for a colony, he 
left on the evening of the 14th, taking seven natives 
as guides. As they thread their way through this 
lab3'rinth of tropical islands, everything is strikingly 
novel and strongly characterized. The immense trees 
are enshrouded in the densest foliage ; exuberant 
vines drape and festoon them in various directions ; 
flowers of every form and hue decorate the landscape ; 
the abundance of fruit is of almost endless diversity 
and flavor ; there is an astonishing variet}^ of birds of 
the most brilliant plumage, and some of them are 
charming in song; the crystal waters teem with fishes, 
the sparkling scales of which vie with the birds in 
almost ever}^ tint of the rainbow ; and the air is laden 
with such an aromatic fragrance as cannot fail to con- 
vince Columbus that he is in that oriental country 
" where the spices grow." 

As the ships glide along over the smooth waters, 
the natives name the islands till they mount up into 
the hundreds, and " Columbus now had no longer a 
doubt that he was among the islands described by 
Marco Polo as studding the vast sea of Chin, or China, 
and lying at a great distance from the mainland. 
These, according to the Venetian, amounted to be- 
tween seven and eight thousand, and abounded with 
drugs and spices and odoriferous trees, together with 
gold and silver and many other precious objects of 
commerce.^ 

On Monday, October 15th, the ships are under sail 
towards an island some six or seven leagues distant, 
" that part of it toward San Salvador extending from 

^ Irving's Columbus, vol. i, p. 173. 



CHASING THE NATIVES. 105 

N. to S. five leagues." The other side ran from 
K. to W. more than ten leagues. Now they sail for a 
still larger island to the W., which the Admiral names 
Santa Maria de la Conccpcion. " About sunset we an- 
chored near the cape which terminates the island to- 
wards the W. to inquire for gold, for the natives we 
had taken from San Salvador told me that the people 
here wore golden bracelets upon their arms and legs. 
I believe pretty confidently that they had invented 
this stor}^ in order to find means to escape from us." ^ 
Here the ships remained till the next day, the Ad- 
miral examining the island and taking possession of 
it. "A large canoe being near the caravel Nina., one 
of the San Salvador natives leaped overboard and 
swam to her (another had made his escape the night 
before) ; the canoe being reached by the fugitive, the 
natives rowed for the land too swiftly to be overtaken ; 
having landed, some of ni}^ men went ashore in pursuit 
of them, when they abandoned the canoe and fled with 
precipitation ; the canoe which they had left was 
brought on board the Nina, where from another 
quarter had arrived a small canoe with a single man, 
who came to barter some cotton ; some of the sailors, 
finding him unwilling to go on board the vessel, 
jumped into the sea and took him. I was upon the 
quarter-deck of my ship, and, seeing the whole, sent 
for him and gave him a red cap, put some glass beads 
upon his arms, and two hawk's bells upon his ears. I 
then ordered his canoe to be returned to him, and dis- 
patched him back to land." 

^ The quotations occurring along this part of the narrative are from the 
Journal of Columbus. 



To6 



CRONAiPS MAP. 



Tuesday, October i6th, about noon, the squadron 
set sail for an island whicli loomed up very large in 




5 a ^u 



the west. But their sails were so poorly filled that 
they had not yet reached harbor when night overtook 



THE NEWS CARRIER. 107 

them. Alidwa}^ they had met a man in a canoe. His 
outfit for a vo3^age among these islands was exceed- 
ingly small — a bit of cassava bread " as big as one's 
fist, a calabash of water, a quantit}^ of reddish earth," 
used as body-paint, and a few dried leaves which these 
natives seemed to value. He had also a little basket 
in which were some glass beads and two Spanish 
copper coins, thus betraying the fact that he was from 
San Salvador, probably going from island to island to 
carry the news of the arrival of the strangers from 
heaven, and to show the presents they gave. The 
Admiral ordered the bold seaman, with his canoe and 
goods, to be taken on board, where he served him with 
"bread, honey, and drink." As the ships approached 
the large island for which they were making, the 
Indian, with his effects, was launched in his canoe. 
This kind treatment, Columbus thought, would con- 
ciliate the natives. They approached the island just 
at night, and, as the coast was dangerous, beat up and 
down till morning, when they anchored at a village. 
The Indian messenger, having landed here, had given 
the inhabitants so good an impression that all night 
long they were coming out in great numbers in their 
canoes to the approaching ships, bringing water and 
other things. Bach one received some present, " as 
strings of ten or a dozen glass beads, plates of brass, 
such as cost in Castile a maravedi apiece, and thongs 
of leather. Those who came on board were fed with 
molasses." 

In the gray dawn of the morning a delegation went 
ashore for water. The kindl}^ natives not only di- 
rected them to the springs, but " carried the little tubs 



lo8 BRILLIANT FISHES. 

to fill the pipes." ^ These natives attracted the atten- 
tion of the Spaniards as being shrewder in traffic than 
those they had met before. How the Spaniards ache 
to get the gold ornament, half as big as a castellano 
and with letters on it, from the nose of that native. 
Surely that must be a coin ! But the fellow will not 
part with it. These natives are also more modest in 
coverino- their nakedness than has been the custom in 

o 

these parts. The ships spend some time coasting this 
island and Columbus lands, and is delighted with its 
great fertility and the novel and striking beauty of 
every object about him. He is especially delighted 
with the fishes, " of the finest hues in the world, blue, 
yellow, red, and every other color, some variegated 
with a thousand different tints, so beautiful that no 
one on beholding them could fail to express the 
highest wonder and admiration." This island was 
named Fernandina, in honor of the King. 

On the morning of the 19th the Admiral sailed to 
the soiitheast for the island Saomote, which he named 
Isabella. Columbus says, " It lies westerly from the 
island of Fernandina, and the coast extends from the 
islet twelve leagues west to a cape which I called 
Cabo Hef-moso — Cape Beautiful — it being a beautiful 
round headland, with a bold shore free from shoals. 
Part of the shore is rocky, but the rest of it, like 
most of the coast here, a sandy beach. Here we an- 
chored till morning. This island is the most beau- 
tiful that I have yet seen ; the trees in great number, 
floiirishing and lofty ; the land is higher than the 
other islands, and exhibits an eminence which, though 

1 Herrera's History of America, vol. i, chap. 13. 



ENCHANTING LANDSCAPES. 109 

it cannot be called a monntain, yet adds beauty to its 
appearance, and gives an indication of streams of 
water in the interior." He adds further, "This is so 
beautiful a place, as well as the neighboring regions, 
that I know not in which course to proceed first ; my 
e3^es are never tired with viewing such delightful 
verdure, and of a species so new and dissimilar to that 
of our country, and I have no doubt there are trees and 
herbs here which would be of o-reat value in Spain, as 
dyeing materials, medicines, spices, etc., but I am mor- 
tified that I have no acquaintance with them. Upon 
our arrival here we experienced the most sweet and 
delightful odor from the flowers or trees of the island." 
And again, concerning the same island, he says, 
" Groves of loft}^ and flourishing trees are abundant, 
as also large lakes, surrounded and overhung by the 
foliage in a most enchanting manner. Everything 
looked as green as in April in Andalusia. The 
melody of the birds was so exquisite that one was 
never willing to part from the spot, and the flocks of 
parrots obscured the heavens. The diversity in the 
appearance of the feathered tribe from those of our 
country is extremely curious." 

In giving these citations from the Admiral's journal 
as preserved by Las Casas we are tempted to quote 
him a little further. '' While we were in search of some 
good water," he sa3\s of his sojourn in Isabella, " we 
came upon a village of the natives about half a league 
from the place where the ships lay ; the inhabitants, on 
discovering us, abandoned their houses and took to 
flight, carrying off their goods to the mountain. I 
ordered that nothing which they had left should be 



no SEARCHING FOR THE KING. 

taken, not even the value of a pin. Presently we saw- 
several of the natives advancing toward our party, and 
one of them came up to us, to whom we gave some 
hawk's bells and glass beads, with which he was de- 
lighted. We asked him, in return, for v/ater, and 
after I had gone on board the ship the natives came 
down to the shore with their calabashes full, and 
showed great pleasure in presenting us with it. I 
ordered more glass beads to be given them, and they 
promised to return the next day. It is my wish to fill 
all the water-casks of the ships at this place, which 
being executed I shall depart immediately, if the 
weather serve, and sail round the island, till I succeed 
in meeting with the king, in order to see if I can ac- 
quire any of the gold which I hear he possesses. 
Afterwards I shall set sail to another very large island 
which I believe to be Cipango, according to the indica- 
tion I receive from the Indians on board." 

There is a strange lack of quadrupeds in these 
islands. What can be the origin of that dog which 
guards the pavilion of the native, but cannot bark? 
If he is a hunter, that little animal which the natives 
call ?^//^, and which the Spaniards are at a loss to name, 
not knowing whether to call it a large rat, a rabbit, or 
a coney, must be its only game. But lizards abound, 
and a kind of reptile which the natives eat with great 
relish, but which the Spaniards look upon with disgust, 
as being allied to serpents. 

The natives still pointed southwest, as the direction 
in which to find the rich king and the mines of gold. 
So on the ships went in that direction, through sun- 
shine and frequent showers, till they came in sight of 
Cuba, on the 28th. 



APPROACHING CUBA. m 

All travellers testify to the magnificence of this island 
as seen in the distance, especially when approached 
from the north. Everything beautiful and grand in 
nature seems to combine here. Lofty mountains lift 
their blue peaks into the clouds ; their spurs, like great 
buttresses, are clad in the most luxuriant forests, and 
run out in grand promontories to the sea ; the wide 
plains which border the beautiful rivers are elysian in 
their mild scenery and great fertility ; the large shells, 
strewn along the coast, the birds, the flowers, the 
insects sparkling like jewels, and even the fishes — all 
vie with each other to give brilliancy and the most 
entrancing effect to this immense stretch of land, 
which almost claims to be a continent. 

As the ships bore down upon the land, the grand 
scene filled the heart of Columbus with unutterable 
delight\ Surely this must be the far-famed island, 
Cipango ! In those mountains yonder would be the 

^" Fancy, without whose aid no truly great work can succeed in the hands 
of man, lent a peculiar charm to the delineations of nature sketched by Co- 
lumbus and Vespucci." — Humboldfs Cosmos. 

The same author, speaking of the expansion of knowledge and the growth 
of poetic feeling which became so obvious in literature after the discovery of 
the New World, notes how Columbus " described the earth and the new 
heaven opened to his eyes with a beauty and simplicity of expression Which 
can only be adequately appreciated by those who are conversant with the 
ancient vigor of the language in the period in which he wrote. The physi- 
ognomy and forms of vegetation; the impenetrable thickets of the forests, 
in which one can scarcely distinguish the stems to which the several blos- 
soms and leaves belong; the wild luxuriance of the flowering soil along 
the humid shores, and the rose-colored flamingoes which, fishing at early 
dawn at the mouth of the rivers, impart animation to the scenery — all in 
turn arrested the attention of the old mariner as he sailed along the shores 
of Cuba, between the small Lucayan islands and the Jardinillos, which I too 
have visited. Each newly-discovered land seems to him more beautiful than 
the one last described, and he deplores his inability to find words in which 
to express the sweet impressions awakened in his mind." 



112 ON THE L O OKO UT FOR TAR TAR T. 

mines of gold ; that tropical vegetation would afford 
spices, and along the shores would be the pearls of 
the Orient. As they landed and examined an Indian 
village, the pavilion-like houses, made of palm 
branches and located here and there on pretty emi- 
nences, under large trees, seemed more architectural 
than any they had seen. And how clean they were ! 

Those wooden statues and masks, so ingeniously 
wrought, did they not indicate some fair degree of 
civilization ? Those fishing implements made of bone 
must show some enterprise in fishing, to supply the 
cities in the interior. And was there not the skull of 
a cow ? — now supposed to have been that of a sea-calf 
or manatee. 

" The natives on board my vessel point to the interior, 
to Cubanican, and say there is an abundance of gold 
there," said Martin Alonzo Pinzon. " Moreover, they 
say that this is not an island, but the mainland. 
Cubanican must be Cublai Khan, the great sovereign 
of Tartary, described by Marco Polo." 

"Aye, truly," replies Columbus, "Then we are 
not in Cipango, but on the mainland of India, in the 
vicinity of Mangi and Cathay." 

As heretofore, the natives pressed upon the Span- 
iards with their huge balls of coarse cotton yarn, 
parrots, and cassava bread ; but Columbus forbade all 
traffic except for gold, hoping thus to develop the facts 
concerning that metal in the country. Nowhere, how- 
ever, in the crowds who called on him could he detect 
any of the precious metals, except one silver ring in 
the nose of a native. He was questioned, and gave 
the impression that the king lived about four days' 
journey inland. 



DELE GA TION TO KUBLAI KHAN. 1 1 -> 

There was no time to lose. At once two Spaniards 
were chosen as delegates to the court of the mon- 
arch — probably Kublai Kahn. One of them was a 
convert from among the lately banished Jews, who 
could use the Hebrew and Chaldaic languages, and 
even the Arabic. Might not this oriental potentate be 
able to communicate through one or the other of these ? 
Two Indians acted as guides. This embassy was in- 
structed to present the letter of salutation^ which the 
Spanish sovereigns had sent, and to inform the mon- 
arch that they had sent the Admiral to establish 
friendl}^ relations between their distant kingdoms. 

In order to be as thorough as possible in this dis- 
patch, Columbus made out a list of names of Asiatic 
provinces, harbors, and rivers, as given by Marco Polo 
and others, concerning which they were to make in- 
quiries as to distance, situation, etc. They were also 
supplied with samples of certain oriental spices and 
drugs, in order to ascertain whether they grew in that 
country. 

To all these important inquiries the Admiral ex- 
pected answers in full in six days. O Marco Polo ! 
what an impression thou hast made ! 

Meanwhile all the crews were active ; part were 

^ This letter read as follows : 

"Ferdinand and Isabella to King : 

" The sovereigns have heard that he and his subjects entertain great love 
for them and for Spain. They are, moreover, informed that he and his sub- 
jects very much wish to hear news from Spain ; and send, therefore, their 
Admiral, Ch. Columbus, who will tell them that they are in good health and 
perfect prosperity. 

" Granada, April 30th, 1492." — Helps., Col., p. 79. 

The same author says: "This crediting the unknown ruler with an 
anxiety for the welfare of the Spanish sovereigns is really a delicious piece 
of diplomatic affectation." 



114 



THE ODOR OF MASTIC. 



careening and repairing the vessels, and part went in 
search of cinnamon, nutmegs, and rhubarb. As Co- 
lumbus continued to examine the natives, a great vari- 
ety of information was elicited. When he showed them 
gold ornaments and pearls, they knew of a country 
where these were worn on the necks, arms, and ankles. 
They also told of nations who had but one eye, of oth- 
ers who had heads like dogs, and of others who cut 
the throats of their prisoners and drank their blood ; 
all of which was no doubt equally authentic. 

What strong, sweet odor is that arising in the smoke, 
as the calkers on the vessels heat their tar over the 
fire ? Surely that is the precious mastic, such as is 
found in the Grecian Archipelago ; and, as the trees 
which are being burnt grow abundantly everywhere 
around, Columbus conjectures that "a thousand quin- 
tals of this precious gum might be gathered every 
year." 

Well, mastic or no mastic, here is something impor- 
tant. That group of natives yonder also have a fire 
and, irrespective of any odor, are turning it to practical 
account. What are those longish tubers which they 
are baking in the embers, and which they eat with such 
relish while they are yet steaming hot ? Ah ! that 
will prove to be something of more value to the world 
than all the wealth of the Indies ; it is the potato ! — no 
mere ornament or luxur^^, but food — bread which the 
poor man can produce from his little patch of ground 
in less than a hundred days, and make ready for his 
table without the aid of a mill. 

Here come the embassadors ! In less than six days 
they have accomplished their mission. All crowd 



THE NA TI VE TO WN. i j ^ 

around to hear what thej^ have to tell about Kublai 
Khan. Alas ! after travelling some twelve leagues, they 
have found, as usual, only a community of naked 
savages. It was unusually large, indeed, containing 
some fifty houses, more capacious than those near the 
sea, and having a population of about a thousand ; 
but there was neither gold nor pearls ; and when they 
showed their cinnamon and pepper, the inhabitants 
said these did not grow with them, but pointed, as 
usual, to the southwest. 

Fernando Columbus says that when the embassy 
reached this Indian community " the principal men of 
the place came out to meet them, and led them by the 
arms to their town, giving them one of those great 
houses to lodge in, where the^^ made them sit down 
upon seats made of one piece, in strange shapes, and 
almost like some creature that had short legs, and the 
tail lifted up to lean against, which is as broad as the 
seat for the convenience of leaning, with a head before, 
and the eyes and ears of gold. These seats they call 
d2ichi\ where, the Christians being seated, all the Indians 
sat in a circle around them on the ground, and then came 
one by one to examine and kiss their hands and feet, 
believing they came from heaven ; and they gave them 
some boiled roots to eat, not unlike chestnuts in taste, 
earnestly entreating them to stay there among them, 
or at least to rest themselves five or six days, because the 
two Indians the}^ took with them gave those people an 
excellent character of the Christians. Soon after, 
many women coming in to see them, the men went out, 
and these, with no less respect, kissed their feet and 
hands, offering them what the}^ brought." He also 



Ii6 COTTON AND CORN 

says, concerning the same tour, "they saw vast quan- 
tities of cotton well spun, in balls, in so much that 
in one house only they saw above 12,500 pounds of it. 
The plants it comes from are not set, b ut grow naturally 
about the fields, like roses, and open of themselves 
when they are ripe, but not all at the same time, for 
upon one and the same plant they had seen a little 
young bud, another open, and a third coming ripe." 

The Spaniards " might have been attended back by 
more than five hundred men and women, who were 
eager to bear them company, thinking they were 
returning to heaven. They took none along with them 
but one of the principal inhabitants, with his son." 
{^Colu77ibus' s jour7taL) 

The embassy had seen a number of cozy little 
villages with gardens in which was cultivated a kind of 
sweet pepper, a sort of bean, yucca for cassava bread, 
potatoes, and that wonderful product which has so ex- 
tensively fed both man and beast ever since — maize, or 
Indian corn. With whatever curiosity and interest they 
may have examined this beautiful product — this gigan- 
tic species of gi^ass — they could have formed no concep- 
tion of the immense want it was to supply throughout 
the world. 

They also found another product, which was to tell 
heavily on the habits of the world. They had seen the 
natives roll up the large, dried leaves of a certain weed, 
and putting one end of the compacted cylindrical- 
shaped mass in the mouth and holding a firebrand to 
the other, draw the smoke into their mouths and puff 
it out again ! This use of the " tobacco^^ as the Indian 
called his huge cigar, was looked upon by the Spaniards 



DESER TION B T PINZ ON. j 1 7 

as tJie most naziseous habit they had yet seeii among the 
savages. 

Disappointed in not finding the oriental monarch, nor 
yet gold mines, nor pearls, nor palaces roofed with gold, 
in these parts, Columbus resolved to go in search of the 
island Babeque, to which the natives had now transferred 
all their royal and golden mysteries/ The vessels 
sailed southeast along the coast. After several days, 
in which he saw no populous towns, nor anything else 
corresponding to his oriental notions, he sailed eastward 
toward an island in sight, which he thought might be 
the one referred to ; but strong head- winds obliged him 
to put back to the shores of Cuba. Again he put out, 
and, after several days of useless effort, was under ne- 
cessity of returning. But as he gave signal for the 
other vessels to follow him, the Pnita^ some distance in 
advance, gave no attention. As night came on, he put 
the lights at the mast-head ; but, though the wind was 
so favorable to the Admiral's course, no regard was paid 
to these. The morning dawned and no sail was in 
sight. 

For a while at least, Martin Alonzo Pinzon had de- 
termined to part company with Columbus. At this 
the latter was greatly disturbed. Pinzon had been one 
of his best friends, and had done more than any one 
else in securing the vessels and the crews. Others 
had given him sympathy and counsel, but he had 
given him his purse. His company, as an experienced 
and bold navigator, was of incalculable importance. 
But it was not an easy matter for one so prominent in 

^Las Casas thinks two days farthei' sail to the northwest would have 
brought him in sight of Florida. 



1 1 8 DESER TION B T PINZ ON. 

the enterprise and so accustomed to command to sub- 
mit to another who was a comparative stranger to him- 
self and to his nation. Perhaps, in the few variances 
which had occurred between him and the Admiral, he 
had blamed him too severely. Very possibly the latter 
was not always as amiable and considerate towards his 
colleague as he might have been. We do not know 
and cannot judge. Whatever the extenuations might 
be, Pinzon should have been subordinate and faithful 
to the Admiral, according to his voluntar};- agreement 
under his sovereigns.^ Nor does it seem probable that 
Columbus could have been guilty of any great misde- 
meanor towards his associate, for in the lawsuit with 
the Crown, introduced by Diego Columbus after his 
father's death, and in which the Pinzons took ample 
occasion to show their unfriendliness toward the Co- 
lumbus family, there is no mention of anything of the 
kind. 

Barring his desertion by Pinzon and his failure to find 
Kublai Khan, the Admiral's voyage along this north 
side of Cuba had been one continued delectation. 
Broad, deep rivers studded with magnificent islands, 
fertile plains shaded by the strangest and most delight- 
some trees of astonishing size, lofty mountains bearing 
gigantic pines and suggestive of the most picturesque 
and artistic landscapes, fragrant flowers and luscious 
fruits, and an endless variety of birds in plumage and 
song the most charming — all entranced him both day 
and night ; so that, in describing these new scenes to 

1 In connection with this painful incident, Las Casas quotes from Colum- 
bus's journal concerning Pinzon: "He has, by language and actions, 
occasioned me manv other troubles." 



GRAND SCENER T OF HA TTI. i ig 

the sovereigns, the symbolism of language utterly fails 
to mirror his perceptions. Only the experience of see- 
ing could sufficiently magnify one's conceptions of such 
marvellous parts of our earth. 

Babeque, that mysterious land of golden dreams, is 
now the one point of interest in the wide ocean. The 
Admiral therefore sails eastward, according to the 
direction of the natives. Presently, in the south, there 
arises out of the sea a most enchanting landscape. 
Quite a distance along the horizon the rocky crest of 
majestic mountains is strongly outlined against the 
sky. Anon long slopes and wide plateaus of the most 
exuberant tropical forest emerge. As they approach 
still closer, there are broad savannahs, and fertile valle3^s 
bordering rivers clear as crystal. The vegetable and 
animal life is the same brilliant display of birds and 
flowers and elysian fruits as they have found else- 
where in these delightsome regions of perpetual sum- 
mer. This island, some four hundred miles in length 
and about one hundred and fifty miles in greatest 
breadth, is Hayti, than which there is not a more 
beautiful nor more unfortunate spot on earth. Evi- 
dently it was once the home of an immense com- 
munity of happy human beings, who, in the midst of 
nature's greatest plenty, without care and almost with- 
out effort, lived a life of simplicity and fair morality ; 
who were conscious of the plainest joys and truest 
affections, without the burdens and ambitions of civili- 
zation. But the story of those lives is prehistoric. 
When civiliiced man planted his foot on fair Hayti's 
shores, misery and bloodshed began ; and from that 
day to this it has scarcely known permanent peace or 
prosperity. 



1 20 FISHES IN AB UN DANCE. 

On December 6tli tlie vessels entered a harbor on the 
western end of the island, which Columbus called St. 
Nicholas. The shores of the smooth waters of this 
broad harbor were overshadowed by the most magnifi- 
cent and fruitful trees. Here the royal palm spread its 
immense fronds, and the banana displayed at once its 
elegant tubular blossoms and its great clusters of fruit. 
A wide plain stretched away into the mountains, and on 
the river running through it a number of the canoes of 
the natives Avere seen. Columns of smoke arose here 
and there, and at night iires gleamed thickly in the 
forests. Evidently the island was well peopled. 

The Spaniards continued their course along the north 
side of the island. Here and there among the hills or 
mountain spurs were charming valleys, some of which 
appeared to be highly cultivated. In the clear waters 
there was a great variety and abundance of fishes, 
some of which leaped into the boats. When they drew 
their nets, which were burdened with vast numbers of 
them, they found some which resembled certain species 
in Spain. Throughout the day and even at night the 
birds were singing, some of them almost repeating the 
bird-songs of their own country. One of them re- 
minded them strikingly of the nightingale. In fact, 
in many respects there was something in this island 
strongly suggestive of the more beautiful parts of 
Southern Spain, hence Columbus named it Hispaniola. 

But where were the natives ? On landing and making 
excursions inland they could find their houses, their 
gardens, traces of their roads, and the ashes and embers 
of their recent fires ; but the people had evidently fled 
at the sight of the ships. While Columbus, after his 



CAPTURE OF AN INDIAN FEMALE. 121 

usual custom, was erecting a huge cross and taking 
possession of the country for Spain with proper formal- 
ities, some of his men, rambling about the neighbor- 
hood, caught sight of a vast throng of natives, who im- 
mediately fled in terror. The sailors gave chase, but 
found their sea-legs too clumsy to overtake the fleet- 
footed Indians. One young woman or girl, however, 
who either could not keep up with the rest, or loitered 
behind out of womanly curiosity, was captured and 
borne away to the ships. 

As they arrived with this naked beaut}^ on their 
shoulders, Columbus was not very well assured as to 
the civilized wealth of the island, but that ring of gold 
in her nose was suggestive. The precious metal must 
be somewhere in those mountains or in the sands of 
the rivers, as the natives had said. If the girl was at 
all terrified b}^ these new scenes, she was soon soothed 
by the kindness of the Admiral. He had her dressed,^ 
and decked out with beads, brass rings, and little 
bells, and when he was about to send her to her native 
forest, accompanied by some of his men and several 
native guides, she was not at all anxious to go, but 
would have preferred to share the fortunes of the few 
Indian women whom Columbus already had on board 
his ships. The men who escorted this female into the 
forest would gladly have shown the utmost gallantry 
by taking her all the way to her home, but it was 
night, and they could not conjecture how they might 
be received by the savages ; so she was obliged to go 
part way alone, while the escort returned. 

' Herrera sajs : " The Admiral gave her hawk's bells, strings of glass beads, 
and caused a shirt to be put upon her." 



122 A^ INDIA N C OMMUNITT. 

What a curiosity this young female, so grandly 
apparelled, must have been to her people. One may 
almost imagine that no one slept in the town that 
night, but that all stayed up to hear her wonderful 
accounts of the strange sights she had seen. A visi- 
tation of angels from heaven could scarcely surprise 
us more than these white men did the Indians. Co- 
lumbus knew how to take proper advantage of this 
incident. The next morning he sent a delegation of 
nine of his best men, well armed, to find the community 
to which this young woman belonged. About thirteen 
miles inland, in a fertile valley and on the banks of a 
beautiful river, they found a large town of the natives, 
comprising about one thousand houses ; but every 
one had fled at their approach. A Cuban interpreter 
hurried after and overtook them. How highly he 
extolled these white men ! They were good men, he 
said, who came from heaven and went about the world 
making fine presents. By this means the vast crowd 
of some two thousand was conciliated, and approached 
the strangers. See them come with slow, hesitating 
steps, every now and then standing still and putting 
their hands on their heads as an act of profound rev- 
erence ! 

Presently there comes another large company, the 
young female, shirted, ringed, and beaded, borne on the 
shoulders of two men in front. She is the object of 
admiration to all, and her husband gesticulates en- 
thusiastically, and in every possible way expresses his 
gratitude for the presents she has received. 

The Spaniards are impressed with the appearance 
of these natives as being more finely formed, of fairer 



HOSPITALiry OF THE NATIVES. 123 

complexion, and more pleasing in countenance than 
any they have yet seen. The kind-hearted beings 
seem now completely won, and invite their heavenly 
visitants to their houses, where they set before them 
the usual cassava-bread, also fish, roots, and the finest 
varieties of their luscious fruits. It was a gala-day. 
The air was mild and balm}^ as on a spring day in 
Southern Spain ; the birds seemed in full song — surely 
there could be no winter in this part of the world ! 

The unbounded hospitality which the white men 
enjoyed everywhere among the Indians was character- 
istic of this people. Whatever any one had seemed 
free to all without the asking. Any one might enter 
the simple dwelling of another and take what he 
wished as freelj^ as if it had been his own. This uni- 
versal liberalitj^vas, no doubt, in part the result of the 
spontaneous abundance of that tropical country in 
which they lived, and in part the advantage of a 
simple mode of living. They realized to the fullest 
extent Goldsmith's famous adage : 

" Man wants but little here below, 
Nor wants that little long." 

We can scarcely afford to pass by the illustrious par- 
agraph so often quoted from Peter Martyr, an Italian 
scholar and author at the court of Spain in those days. 
"It is certain," he sa3'S, " that the land among these 
people is as common as the sun and water ; and that 
* mine and thine,' the seeds of all mischief, have no 
place with them. They are content with so little, 
that, in so large a countr}^, they have rather superfluity 
than scarceness ; so that the}'' seem to live in the 



124 



BE A UTIFUL SIMPLICITY OF LIFE. 



golden world without toil, living in open gardens, not 
intrenched with dykes, divided with hedges, or 
defended with walls. They deal truly one with another, 
without laws, without books, and without judges. 
They take him for an evil and mischievous man who 
taketh pleasure in doing hurt to another ; and albeit 
they delight* not in superfluities, yet they make pro- 
vision for the increase of such roots whereof they 
make their bread, contented wdth such simple diet, 
whereby health is preserved and disease avoided." 

This surel}^ is a pretty picture of human life. The 
material for it was, no doubt, derived by Martyr from 
Columbus himself, with whom he seems to have been 
intimate ; and we hope it is true to the once free and 
happy existence of a most unfortunate people. " All 
concur," says Irving, " in representing the life of these 
islanders as approaching to the golden state of poetical 
felicity ; living under the absolute but patriarchal and 
easy rule of their caciques, free from pride, with few 
wants, an abundant country, a happil}^ tempered cli- 
mate, and a natural disposition to careless and indolent 
enjo^anent." 




CHAPTER VII. 

THE SHIPWRECK AND THE FORT. 

HE Admiral was loth to give up his fancied 
island, Babeque ; so he made another detour 
in the vicinity of Hayti, and to a certain 
island abounding in turtles he gave the name Tortu- 
gas. Here he saw a valley so beautiful that he called 
it the Vale of Paradise, and named a broad and tran- 
quil stream the Guadalquiver. Putting back to Hayti, 
he found a solitary Indian in a canoe on a rough sea 
near midnight. The hero, along with his frail bark, 
was taken on board ship ; and, having been feasted and 
set out in European finery, was put ashore in a good 
harbor when they reached the island. 

The constant repetition of such conciliatory acts on 
the part of Columbus called forth a most cordial 
response from the hearts of these savages, so that he 
wrote to Santangel as follows : " True it is, that after 
they felt confidence, and lost their fear of us, they 
were so liberal with what the}^ possessed that it would 
not be believed b}?- those who had not seen it. If any- 
thing was asked of them, they never said no, but 
rather gave it cheerfully, and showed as much amity 
as if they gave their very hearts ; and, whether the 
thing were of value or of little price, they were con- 
tent with whatever was given in return. * ''' '=' In 
all these islands it appears to me that the men are all 
content with one wife, but they give twentj^ to their 
chieftain or king. The women seem to work more 



126 THE YOUNG CACIQUE. 

than the men, and I have not been able to understand 
whether they possess individual property ; but rather 
think that whatever one has all the rest share, especi- 
ally in all articles of provision." 

The presents made to the hero-Indian put ashore 
had the desired effect. Very soon the coast was lined 
with natives ; and their king, a young man of twenty- 
one perhaps, was with them. One of the Admiral's 
captive interpreters undertook to explain to him who 
these strangers were. They had come from heaven, 
he said, and were going to Babeque to find gold ! At 
the same time, he handed the cacique a present. Not. 
at all struck with the incongruity of these heavenly 
beings so intent on a gold hunt, but more under 
the gratifying influence of his present, the chieftain 
pointed his finger in a certain direction, saying 
that two days' sail that way would take him where 
there was plenty. He then produced a thin plate of 
the precious metal, about as big as his hand, and, cut- 
ting it in pieces, bartered it for trinkets. Some of his 
subjects, who had rude ornaments of gold in their noses 
and ears, readily traded these in like manner. Of 
what value were these bits of plain yellow to them, 
compared with bits of sparkling glass and fragments 
of painted dishes ! 

The young potentate now took leave, promising to 
come the next day with more gold; he assured them, 
however, that there was more of this metal in Tortugas 
than in his island. The next day, the i8th, there was 
no wind, so the Spaniards occupied themselves in deck- 
ing out their ships and fi.ring their guns in memory of 
the annunciation of the blessed Virgin ; and also 



UNCIVILIZED ROYALTY. 127 

awaited the return of the young cacique with the 
promised gold. 

In due time the latter arrived, borne on a litter or 
sort of palanquin on the shoulders of his men, in true 
oriental style, two hundred of his subjects accompany- 
ing him. With an air of perfect ease, he took his seat 
by the side of the Admiral, who was just in the midst 
of his dinner. His two venerable counsellors, who 
almost worshipped him, sat at his feet ; the rest of his 
followers stood without. The food offered to him he 
merely tasted, then passed it on to his subjects. Mean- 
while he uttered but few words, and was very dig- 
nified. 

After dinner the Admiral and the young chief ex- 
changed presents. The latter gave a belt finely orna- 
mented and two pieces of gold ; and, as he looked very 
admiringly on a piece of rich cloth constituting the 
bed-hangings of the former, that was taken down and 
presented to him, along with some amber beads, a pair 
of red shoes, and a bottle of perfume. Columbus, dis- 
playing a piece of Spanish money with the heads of 
the monarchs stamped on it, some royal banners, and 
the standard of the cross, endeavored to convey some 
idea of his country and his religion, but the young 
chieftain referred all these things to some other world. 
He could not conceive of them as belonging to earth. 

At night he left in great state, his presents borne 
before him, a son of his being carried after him, on 
the shoulders of one of the most honorable men ; a 
brother went a-foot, " led by the arms by two honorable 
men, the large concourse following, and the Spanish 
guns firing a salute in honor of this display of uncivil- 
ized royalty. 



128 THRONGS OF NATIVES. 

" This day," writes the Admiral, " little gold was ob- 
tained, but an old man indicated that at a distance of a 
hundred leagues or more were some islands where much 
gold could be found, and in some it was so plentiful that 
it was collected and bolted with sieves, then melted and 
beaten into divers forms. One of the islands was said 
to be all gold." 

No biography of Columbus gives any adequate repre- 
sentation of the vast numbers of natives which thronged 
him all along this northwest cost of Hayti on his first voy- 
age. The shores and harbors teemed with canoes ; many 
hundreds who had no canoes swam out for miles to the 
ships. Men, women, and little children vied with each 
other in bringing all the kinds of food and other objects 
of value which they could command ; and, making every 
kind of sign and demonstration of cordiality to these 
beings whom they hailed as from heaven, begged them 
to abide with them. The men, the ships, the European 
wares and trinkets, even to the merest sliver of a painted 
dish or a bit of leather strap, was worth, in their eyes, 
all the cotton or gold they could command.^ Fearing 
that this great generosity might be imposed upon by 
his greedy crews when they went ashore to communi- 
cate with the natives, Columbus sometimes sent a party 
along to oversee the bartering, and prevent any robbery 
of the natives. 

Whence comes that large, stately canoe, highly 
ornamented, and loaded down with such fine-appear- 
ing natives ? That is an embassy from Guacanagari, 
the grand cacique of these parts. An of&cer from his 
court presents another belt — a broad one, profusely 



^ See the Journal of Columbus as preserved bj Las Casas. 



AN EMBASSY TO G UA CANA GAR I. 139 

ornamented with colored beads and bones ; also a sort 
of figure-head, with eyes, nose, and tongue of gold. 
The embassadors are not very readily understood by the 
interpreters, this being the first new dialect thejr have 
met, but the message from the grand cacique evidently 
is exceedingly cordial. He wishes the ships to keep on 
to the eastward till they come in front of his residence ; 
then Columbus must call on him. But the wind is 
unfavorable, so the Admiral sends a delegation to 
convey his compliments to the chief, and to say that 
he will call as soon as possible. His residence is in a 
large town, well built for that country, and located on 
a river. The embassy is received with great honor on 
the public square, swept and made ready for the oc- 
casion. After each has been presented with a sort of 
dress made of cotton, the refreshments are brought on 
after the usual manner. If the natives see that the 
Spaniards covet anything, they readily give it to them, 
not being willing to receive anything in return. 
When they can be prevailed on to accept an article, it 
is looked upon as a most sacred memento. 

As the chief cannot prevail on the strangers to stay 
over night, he gives them parrots and some bits of 
gold for the Admiral, and sends men to escort them to 
their boats and carry their presents. Thus ended the 
22d of December. 

Meanwhile Columbus continued to be called on by 
great numbers, all of whom extolled the wealth of the 
island. Cibao, in the interior, they said, abounded in 
gold, so that the chief of that mountainous region had 
banners worked out of the precious metal. Now, as 
usual, the Admiral's oriental fancies were at work. 



I30 



WRECK OF THE SANTA MARIA. 



Cibao must be Cipaiigo ; and the cacique with gold 
banners must be its great prince, described by Marco 
Polo. These rumors, however, were at least founded 
on fact ; for here was the best region of gold-mines 
found in those parts. 

Before sunrise on the 24th the vessels weighed 
anchor and steered to the eastward, according to the 
invitation of Guacanagari. The wind from oif the 
land was but slight, so that the vessels made slow prog- 
ress, the sails often flapping in the uncertain puffs of 
air, now from one point and then from another. 

" Eternal A^igilauce " and the most self-sacrificing 
personal attention was one of the marked char- 
acteristics of Columbus as a successful mariner. But 
as he had been on the keenest alert for two days and 
had not slept the night before, and the sea was now 
"calm as water in a dish," to use his own words, 
and his delegation, just returned, had reported an 
entire absence of rocks or shoals along the coast, he 
lay down to sleep, leaving the helm to an experienced 
and, as he no doubt thought, trustworthy seaman. He, 
too, soon retired, leaving his charge to a boy. This 
was " contrary to the express orders of the Admiral, 
who had, throughout the voyage, forbidden, in calm or 
storm, the helm to be intrusted to a boy." Indeed, all 
hands seem to have gone soundly to sleep ; and the 
ship, being left to the currents, which run like imper- 
ceptible rivers past these islands, was carried onto a 
sandbar, or shoal. The keel grates on the bottom, and 
the inexperienced boy at the helm is aroused from 
his dreams, and cries out with alarm. Columbus is the 
first on deck ; then comes the master of the ship, 



RELIEF OF THE SANTA MARIA. 131 

then others, till all hands, many of them scarcely half 
awake, are alarmed at the situation, the breakers 
roaring loudl}' enough to be heard several miles awa3^ 

The Admiral orders the master of the ship to lower 
the boat and warp the vessel off; but he in his cow- 
ardly fright rows awa}^ to the caravel, a distance of a 
mile or more. The commander of the caravel reproves 
him for his reprehensible conduct, mans his own boat, 
and hastens to the relief of the Santa Maria. But the 
ship is lost. In vain her masts had been cut away and 
part of the lading thrown overboard to lighten her. 
The currents had forced her keel firmly into the sand, 
and as she was old and almost rotten she soon sprang 
a leak, and was forced over on her side by the break- 
ers. The crew was taken on board of the Nina, and 
a delegation sent to the chief to report the disaster. 
As there might be other shoals in the vicinity, the 
caravel lay to until the morning. 

Now there occurred a demonstration of humane 
sentiment on the part of this savage chieftain and his 
people vvliich would do credit to au}^ civilized com- 
munit}^ of modern times. When Guacanagari heard 
of the calamity which had befallen the strangers, he 
wept, and immediately ordered all his people out, with 
their canoes, to render every possible aid. He himself 
came also, and, organizing a sort of police force, of 
which he was the head, all the goods were removed 
from the shipwreck and guarded in safety till he could 
vacate several of his largest houses to shelter them. 
Though there was so much that was valuable and 
curious which these savages might have coveted, noth- 
ing was stolen ; and such was the care in handling 



132 



SYMPATHY OF THE SAVAGES. 



that scarcely anything to the "value of a pin" was 
injured. Sir Arthur Helps quaintly says, " The 
wreckers' trade might flourish in Cornwall, but, like 
other crimes of civilization, it was unknovv^n in St. 
Domingo." 

In the midst of the hurry and bustle to and fro, the 
chief would every now and then send some member of 
his family to comfort the Admiral, assuring him that 
everything he had was at his command. '' The people, 
as well as the king," says Columbus, " shed tears in 
abundance." 

All that day the removal of the ship's goods went 
on, and all the next night the friendly savages stood 
guard. No wonder Columbus wrote in his journal, 
" So loving, so tractable, so peaceable are these people, 
that I swear to your majesties there is not in the 
world a better nation, nor a better land. They love 
their neighbors as themselves, and their discourse is 
ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied with a smile ; 
and though it is true that they are naked, yet their 
manners are decorous and praiseworthy." 

After the shipwreck, Columbus and his men were 
crowded on board the Nina. Guacanagari called on 
him and, seeing how depressed he was, shed tears of 
sympathy, and assured him, as he had often done be- 
fore, that he would do all in his power to aid him. 
" While the Admiral was conversing with him, a canoe 
arrived from another place, with Indians bringing 
pieces of gold which they wanted to exchange for 
hawk's bells, these being held in special value among 
them ; before the canoe reached the vessel, the Indians 
called out, showing the gold, and crying chug., cJuig^ 

iTake, Take. 



A ROTAL INDIAN DINNER. 133 

for the hawk's bells, and seemed ready to go mad after 
them ; the other canoes setting off, they requested the 
Admiral to preserve a hawk's bell for them, and they 
would bring him in return four pieces of gold as big 
as his head/ When the chieftain saw the countenance 
of the Admiral light, up at these tidings, he assured 
him that there was a place in the mountains where 
this metal was abundant, and he could get him all he 
wanted. Thus we see that the gold-bearing rocks of 
Cibao, and those mountain streams in which gold 
was to be found mingled with the sand, sometimes in 
great nuggets, was well known. 

After the cacique had dined with the Admiral, he 
urged him to come and eat with him. The meal pre- 
pared was as sumptuous as could be procured. The 
coney-like animal called the iitia was served, various 
kinds of savory fishes, roots, and the most luscious 
fruits. This primitive banquet in the wilderness, 
among savages, was a study to the Spaniards. How 
sympathizing and cheerful Guacanagari was, doing 
everything possible to please his guest and divert his 
mind from his misfortune. How delicately and ab- 
stemiously he ate, washing his hands when done, and 
rubbing them with odoriferous herbs. How gentle 
and dignified was his bearing. How kindly he treated 
his subjects, who almost worshipped him. 

When the feast was over, the cacique, dressed up in 
his shirt and gloves which the Admiral had just given 
him, conducted the Spaniards out into his beautiful 
groves, where they met about a thousand of his naked 
subjects, all ready to divert the strangers with their 

^ Columbus's journal bv Las Casas. 



134 ENTERTAINMENT WITH FIRE-ARMS. 

amusing games. These wood-nymphs performed their 
Avild dances, accompanied by their wierd songs and 
the beating of a kind of rude drum made from the 
trunk of a hollow tree. Some of them had the little 
hawk's bells, brought by the Spaniards, strung about 
them, and as these tinkled and jingled to their en- 
thusiastic movements they were almost frantic with 
delight. It must have been a truly novel and an- 
imated scene ! 

When the Indians had done their best to drive 
melancholy from the mind of Columbus, he thought it 
was his turn to do something to divert them. Now 
was the time to impress them with the military power 
of the white men ; so he first brought out his Moorish 
bows and quivers of arrows, which some of his men had 
learned to use in the wars of Granada. When the 
chief saw how exactly these huge arrows would hit the 
mark as they went whizzing through the air, he was 
astonished at their force. His enemies, the Caribs, 
who made raids on his island and stole his people, 
also had bows and arrows, he said. Aye, but Columbus 
told him he had other kinds of weapons much more 
terrible than these, with which he would drive the 
Caribs away. So he ordered out an arquebus, a large 
gun supported by a rest, and also a heavy cannon. 
At the stunning report of these, the natives fell to the 
ground as if they themselves had been shot. When 
they recovered from the shock and rose up, they were 
terrified at the sight of the trees, all shivered and 
splintered. This was the thunder and the lightning 
which these strangers from heaven could command ! 
Surely they could protect them from their dreaded 
enemies, the Caribs ! 



EXCHANGE OF PRESENTS. 13^ 

Again the order of things was changed. The feast 
and the entertainment being over, the time was come 
to make presents. The caciqne gave the Admiral a 
wooden mask ingeniously carved, the eyes, ears, and 
other parts being heavily ornamented with gold. He 
also hung plates of gold about his neck, and put a 
rude crown of gold tipon his head. He then made 
presents to others of the Spaniards in the most munifi- 
cent manner. 

Various presents were made by Columbus and his 
men in return. We hope they were in some way 
equal to the valuable items they received. However 
trifling some of their gifts may have been, the Indians 
were perfectly fascinated with the merest trinkets, 
smelling of them — they seemed to have tested every- 
thing, even to gold, b}^ the sense of smell — and calling 
them hirey — that is, from heaven. K bit of rust}^ iron 
or a fragment of leather was invested with a charm. 
Las Casas, the friend and apostle of the Indians, re- 
lates an amusing incident of one of them who brought 
a half handful of gold-dust for a hawk's bell, that 
most favorite to}^, and was so impressed with the idea 
that he had the best of the bargain, that he ran like a 
deer into the woods, every now and then looking be- 
hind him, lest the white men, repenting of their side 
of the trade, should pursue him. 

All in all, there had been so much gold brought in, 
and so much had been said by the natives about the 
gold to be found in the mountains of Cibao, in the in- 
terior, that Columbus concluded this to be the place to 
found a colony. Then his men were so elated with the 
easy life in so voluptuous a climate that they dreaded 



136 



BUILDING THE FORT. 



the discipline on board ship and the crowded condition 
in which they would have to be, returning to Spain in 
one small vessel. Columbus, therefore, conceived the 
plan of building a fort out of the timbers of the wrecked 
ship, and arming it with her guns. All were enthusi- 
astic over this scheme, even the Indians, who thought 
it would be an admirable defence against their enemies, 
the Caribs. Between the Spaniards and the natives, 
the work went on so energetically that the fort, called 
La Navidad, or the Nativity, from the time of year in 
which the wreck occurred, was completed in ten days. 
During this time of anxiety on the part of Colum- 
bus concerning the desertion of the Pinta and the dan- 
ger of taking so many back to Spain in one small, 
crazy vessel, he must have been greatly diverted and 
comforted by Guacanagari, who appropriated to his use 
the largest house in the place, carpeted with palm- 
leaves and furnished with stools made of some dark 
wood like ebony. Scarcely ever did the Admiral come 
on shore without receiving some valuable present. The 
cacique told him he wished he could cover him all over 
with gold before he went away, or rather that he would 
not go at all. Once his benefactor called on him with 
five subordinate caciques, each bringing a crown of gold. 
They escorted him to the house above referred to, and 
seated him on one of the stools. Then Guacanagari 
took the crown of gold from his own head and put it 
on the head of Columbus. How natural that the latter, 
moved by such affectionate liberality, should take an 
elegant collar made of beads from his own neck and 
put it around the neck of the chief, clothe him in his 
own mantle of beautiful scarlet cloth, put colored boots 



WEALTH OF THE ISLAND. 137 

on his feet and a large silver ring on his hand. This 
last present was of more value than gold to the Indians, 
for they had no silver in Hayti. While this feast was 
in progress an Indian called to say that he had seen 
the Piiita in a harbor to the eastward two days pre- 
vious. A canoe was dispatched, but it did not succeed 
in finding the absconding vessel. 

Columbus now had fabulous conceptions of the wealth 
of this island, and began to look upon all the circum- 
stances which brought about his shipwreck as a 
special providence ; otherwise he would not have been 
detained long enough to discover its immense resources, 
which he believed would be sufficient to enable the sov- 
ereigns of Spain to undertake the recovery of the Holy 
Sepulchre in three years. By the time he returned 
from Spain those whom he would leave in the fort 
would be able to collect a ton of gold, besides the spices 
and other precious articles they might accumulate. 
How sanguine and visionary was our hero ! 

The fort, a huge wooden tower, built over a vault 
surrounded by a ditch, mounted with the guns from the 
wTecked ship and well supplied with ammunition, would 
overawe the natives and keep his men under discipline. 
These latter were so well pleased with the life thus 
anticipated that he came near having to return alone to 
Spain. Precisely how many he left in the fortress was 
for some time uncertain, as the early accounts differ ; 
but Navarrete found a pay-list due the relatives, in which 
the forty names constituting the garrison were given. 
One of these was an Irishman and another an Knglish- 
man. Diago de Arana, a cousin of Beatrix and a per- 
son of distinction in the armament, was made com- 



138 



PARTING ADVICE. 



mander. The long boat of the Santa Maria was left 
for their convenience ; also articles for traffic, bread and 
wine for more than a year, and seeds for a plantation. 
Such artisans as might be needed were also carefully 
appointed to remain. 

If these men had taken heed to the excellent address 
the Admiral gave them before his departure, no doubt 
all would have been well with them ; but his charge — 
that they should obey the of&cers, keep closely together, 
remember the kindness of Guacanagari and his people ; 
be wise, just, and peaceable in their intercourse with the 
natives, and, above all, to be chaste in their conduct 
with the native females — was wholly ignored as soon as 
Columbus had departed. Hence the terrible disasters 
which followed. 

The 2d of January, the day before the appointment for 
departure, arrived, and Columbus went on shore to take 
formal leave of the Indians. Some order or ceremony, so 
to speak, was desirable. In the house set apart for him 
he spread a feast in true European magnificence, during 
which he cordially commended the men he was about 
to leave behind to the kindly of&ces of the cacique. He 
would soon be back again from Spain, he said ; then he 
would bring an abundance of such articles and jewels 
as they had not yet seen. 

What could be more appropriate at such a time than 
a mock-fight by his men ? So he ordered out the lances, 
cross-bows, swords, arquebuses, and cannon, the men 
appearing in quite a military array. The skilful 
manoeuvres with gleaming swords and bucklers, as the 
men rushed forward in attack and then fell back in reg- 
ular order, with the clang of swords and lances on 



ASTONISHMENT OF THE NATIVES. 



139 



helmet and buckler, gave great animation to the scene. 
The natives were astonished at the execution of these 
implements of war ; and when the cannon sent a shot 
through the hull of the wreck lying in the harbor, and 
also shattered the forests, the}^ looked with trembling fear 
on the clouds of smoke which rolled up over the waters 
and beyond the tree-tops. But if this suggested any cloud 
to the mind it was one with a silver edge. If the power 
of these white men was as grand as the mightiest forces 
of nature, all the better ; they could the more readily 
defend them against the cruel Caribs. 

When Guacanagari saw the Admiral making ready 
to depart, he was much distressed. One of the Indians 
told the latter that the former had ordered his statue to 
be made of gold, " as large as life." 




CHAPTER VIII. 

THE RETURN TO SPAIN. 

OIvUMBUS had taken most affectionate leave 
of Guacanagari, who shed tears at the part- 
ing. Those who were to return home and those 
who were to remain in this strange land had tenderly 
embraced each other. The ship had been detained one 
day in waiting for the Indians who were to go to Spain ; 
but on the morning of January 4th the signal-gun was 
fired, and the Nina having been towed out, her sails 
swelled to a light breeze and she stood away to the hori- 
zon. The cheers from those departing, heartily responded 
to by those on the shore, died away, and the latter were 
gazing wistfully on the white specks against the sky, 
which soon disappeared. 

The island scenery along which the caravels passed 
was very varied. Here was a mountain-point shaped 
like a cone, treeless and covered with bright green 
grass, the land being so low toward the main as to 
make the point look like a little island. There were 
lofty mountain ranges in the distance, the blue, rocky 
crests surmounting the long slopes of rich and varied 
verdure, sharply outlined against the sky ; and the fruit- 
ful level along the coast, reaching inward here and there, 
formed valleys through which flowed copious streams. 
Kvery hour, as the caravel moved along, the point of 
view was changing. To Columbus, so singularly alive 
to the charms of nature, this must have been like the 
disclosure of a beautiful vision. 



PINZON'S EXCUSE. l^l 

Much of the time, however, they were baffled by head- 
winds. On the 6th, as they were beating against a stiff 
breeze from the east, the man watching at the mast- 
head cried out — " The Pinta ! " That swift-sailing craft 
was sweeping on toward them, with all her canvas 
spread before the wind. The sight brought both joy 
and pain to the Admiral. 

Putting about to find a harbor for anchorage, he sig- 
nalled the Pinta to follow. Pinzon obeyed orders, and 
made the best excuse lie could for leaving the fleet. An 
unfavorable wind had carried him away from the Ad- 
miral, he said, and he had ever since been tr3ang to find 
him. This was a weak apology, but it would not be 
wise for Columbus to break with his ablest colleague, 
who had so many relatives and friends among the crews, 
so he made the most of it. He had, however, one 
friend on the Pinta.^ who secretly gave him the explana- 
tion. An Indian on that vessel had been pointing to 
the east to designate a place abounding in the " yellow 
metal " — gold ! Pinzon, knowing the speed of his craft, 
spread all his sail to the wind, in order to monopolize 
the treasure. After being much perplexed in a lab}^- 
rinth of islands, none of which showed any signs of 
gold, he was piloted by the Indians to Hayti. Entering 
a river and opening up trade with the natives, he had 
obtained quite a quantity of the precious metal,^ half of 
which he kept for himself, and distributed the rest 
among his crew as hush-money. 

While this trading was going on, the natives had 

^ Las Casas says: "The Admiral states that in this time he obtained 
much gold by trading, buying for a thong of leather pieces as big as the two 
fingers, and at times as big as the hand." 



142 



THE RIVER OF GOLD. 



told Columbus, during his erection of the fort, that 
another '' big canoe " like his was in a harbor to the 
eastward ; and he had sent out some Spaniards in a 
canoe, with natives to manage it, hoping to find his 
absconding captain ; but they had not been able to 
verify the report, which now, however, was made prob- 
able. 

This disclosure of bad faith on the part of Pinzon 
determined Columbus to go back to Spain as speedily 
as possible, without taking further chances for mu- 
tiny. Otherwise he vv'ould have tried to explore the 
coast somewhat, in hope of finding enough of some 
kind of treasure to at least ballast his caravels for the 
homeward voyage. 

On the 8th the Admiral entered the mouth of a river 
in a boat with his men to get fresh water. The river 
was wide and deep at the mouth, and the sand at the 
bottom gleamed with gold-dust. Many grains were as 
large as lentils, and the finer grains were very abun- 
dant. On returning to their ships, they found "bits 
of gold between the hoops " of their casks. So the 
Admiral named this the River of Gold. 

As night came on, the 9th, the vessels were again in 
company on the way to Spain. The next day, when 
they came into the harbor where Pinzon had been 
trading for gold, the natives complained to Columbus 
that the former had kidnapped four of their men and 
two young girls. On making search, they were found 
on the Pinta. As Pinzon intended carrying them 
away as slaves, Columbus released them, fairly bur- 
dening them with presents, partly in compensation for 
the wrong they had suffered, and partly for the concili- 



BATTLE ARRAY. 143 

ating effect which might thus be produced on the 
natives of the localit3^ ^vX this onl}^ made the breach 
wider between the Admiral and his lieutenant, who 
became very angry and reproached him with bitter 
words. 

Again the caravels are under way with a favorable 
wind, and turning a point now called Cape Cabron 
they come upon a race of savages quite different from 
those the}^ have hitherto met. Are they Caribs ? Is 
this apparent inlet a channel isolating this peculiar 
people from the mainland? They are hideously 
painted, their long hair is tied behind and ornamented 
with the feathers of brilliant birds ; they are armed 
with ^var-clubs and bows of immense size and strength, 
from which they shoot great arrows made of hollow 
reeds and pointed with the hardest wood, bone, or the 
tooth of a fish. Evidentl}^ they are fierce warriors, 
made so, no doubt, by the near vicinity of the Caribs. 
They can shoot their arrows almost with the force of a 
rifle-ball, and their swords, made of a wood almost as 
tough and heavy as iron, are '' not sharp," says Las 
Casas, " but broad, of nearly the thickness of two 
fingers, and capable, with one blow, of cleaving 
through a helmet to the very brains." 

Savage and horrid as they appeared, they made no 
attack, but one of them came on board ship with bows 
and arrows to sell. IMaking signs and gestures in the 
most enthusiastic manner, he succeeded in impressing 
some ver}^ strange notions on Columbus, who somehow 
understood that there was an island not far off in- 
habited entirel}^ by women, and that these were 
occasionally visited by the Caribs. Of the children 



144 



MERMAIDS AND AMAZONS. 



born of these Amazons, the males were carried away 
by the fathers, but the females were left to keep up 
the feminine stock. To what extent the savage was 
responsible for imparting such a notion is not for us 
to say, but the Admiral at once recalled Marco Polo's 
account of two islands near the coast of Asia, the one 
inhabited by men and the other by women, between 
which precisely the same kind of intercourse existed. 

From the same source Columbus learned that there 
were mermaids — that is, sea-maids — in these parts. In 
fact he saw them himself, he claims, swimming with 
their human faces high above the waves, and he had 
previously seen the same on the coast of iVfrica. But 
as they rose out of the sea they did not possess the 
Venus beauty with which poetic fancy had invested 
them. They are supposed to have been manatees, or 
sea-cows, in the distance. 

But we must not laugh too heartily at these absurd- 
ities. There is no telling what we might have believed 
had we lived before the era in which natural history 
has reduced all things to the consistency of Is^v and 
order as implied in the great systems of nature. Had 
Cuvier not been a naturalist, he, too, might have be- 
lieved in winged horses and fire-breathing bulls. 

All in all, Columbus was perplexed as to the charac- 
ter and intent of his savage guest. Did he come on 
board ship out of mere natural curiosity, or was he 
a spy ? His fierce, warrior-like aspect might imply the 
latter. On the other hand, his frank, communicative 
manner might simply indicate an attempt to cultivate 
acquaintance and perhaps a little trade with these 
remarkable strangers. Anyhow, the Admiral would 



THE BATTLE WITH THE NATIVES. 145 

first try to conciliate him by kindness. Having feasted 
Him and made him quite liberal presents of "beads 
and pieces of red and green cloth," he sent him on 
shore, hoping at least to get some of the weapons used 
by these people, in order to take them to Spain as 
curiosities. Or perhaps they might open a trade for 
gold. 

hs> the boat neared the shore, some fifty or more, all 
armed with their rude weapons, appeared, peering out 
here and there among the trees. At first they laid 
down their arms and came to the boat ; but, after sell- 
ing two of their large bows, they seemed to take alarm, 
ran back and got their weapons, and also a supply of 
cords, as if they would capture and bind the Spaniards. 
The latter, attacking them in true warlike spirit, 
wounded several in the " breast with their cross-bows, 
and one in the posterior with a sword." All the rest 
fled, " leaving their w^eapons scattered here and there." 

Columbus was pained at the necessity for this first 
shedding of blood in the New World. How would it 
affect the little garrison at La Navidad ? It might 
at least mar that peace and good-will which he had 
hoped to maintain with these people. 

The next morning his fears were removed. The 
natives appeared on the beach in large numbers, in the 
most peaceful and friendly manner. The Admiral 
sent on shore a large boat-load of men well armed, 
and they were most cordiall}^ received. Indeed, here 
was the cacique himself, holding in his hand the string 
of shells, the " wampum belt," at once the symbol and 
pledge of peace. He wished this to be carried to the Ad- 
miral. Presently he came to the boat himself, with only 



146 FEASTING THE NATIVES. 

three attendants, and embarked for the caravels as free 
and friendly as if nothing had happened. 

The Admiral appreciated this noble frankness, and 
made the interview as pleasant as possible. Indeed, he 
was strongly impressed with the generous magnanimity 
of this chieftain. He took him all through the caravel, 
showed him everything which he thought might gratify 
his curiosity, and feasted him with that peculiar delicacy 
to the Indians — biscuits and honey. Presenting him 
with " a red cap, some beads, and red cloth,'' he sent 
him ashore in a manner becoming his dignity and 
character. 

As the chief returned to his home, some distance in 
the interior, he sent to Columbus his own crown of 
gold. What became of all these coronets of gold 
presented to Columbus by the caciques ? Did they gild 
the royal saloons of Spain, or go to the mint ? How 
invaluable they v/ould now be in our museums ! 

During the few more days spent by the Spaniards in 
the Gulf the most friendly relations continued, the 
natives bringing cotton, fruits, and vegetables, but always 
carrying their weapons, as if not quite assured of their 
safety. As four of the young men were very commu- 
nicative concerning certain islands to the eastward, and 
were very friendly, Columbus prevailed on them to go 
with them as guides.'^ Associating incident with place, 
Columbus called this the " Gulf of Arrows." It is now 
called the Gulf of Sam an a. 

Who were these fierce, warrior-like people ? They 
were indeed quite different from the rest of the inhabi- 
tants of Hayti. They were the Ciguaj'ans, mountain- 

1 Columbus acknowledged in his journal that " it was impossible for them 
to learn much of the country while thej were ignorant of the language, and 
were several days in making the people understand a single thing." 



STRAIGHT FOR SPAIN. 



147 



eers, and their chieftain was Mayonabex, who after- 
ward distinguished himself in respect to some of the 
most noble traits of character. 

When they got out to sea, on the i6th, the young 
Indians did not seem to be so certain as to the island of 
Amazons or that of the Caribs. First they pointed to 
the northeast, then to the southeast, Columbus steering 
in one direction and then in the other. In the latter 
course he would have found Porto Rico, which, indeed, 
the natives called Carib ; and here he was told he would 
find lumps of gold as big as beans. 

How suggestive is a fresh breeze in the right direc- 
tion at sea ! The wind began to blow just right 
for a straight course to Spain. Columbus saw the 
brows of his men lower whenever he took any indirec- 
tion. He therefore pointed directly for home. This 
resolution did not come any too soon. The caravels 
were old and leaky, Pinzon was alienated and might 
influence his brother and many others, especially since 
the men were all homesick. 

The vessels were still facing the trade-winds, and 
therefore made slow progress. Fortunately these 
head-winds were light all through the remaining half 
of Januar}^ The sea was smooth, and the crews had 
some very amusing diversions. The four young 
Indians would jump overboard and swim around the 
ships almost as adroitly as the numerous tunny fishes 
which played about the sea in various directions. 
These were probably the bonita, a sprightly fish of the 
mackerel family, growing to several feet in length. 
Some of these were captured for food, and also a large 
shark. These afforded an agreeable supplement to 



148 



THE PILOTS TAKE RECKONING. 



their spare diet of bread and wine and West India 
peppers. Whether they graced their tables with the 
pelicans which they every now and then got sight of 
does not appear. 

Columbus noticed that he now sailed through sea- 
weeds very similar to those he had encountered on his 
way out from the Canaries, and therefore conjectured 
that these West India islands extended eastward, well 
towards those islands on the west coast of Africa. It 
is worthy of notice that maps were made according to 
this idea for more than a century afterwards. 

Bearing somewhat north of east, they had passed 
out of the belt of the trade-winds, and were now wafted 
on direct for Spain. The foremast of the Pbita had 
become seriously weakened, and the Nina was obliged, 
not infrequently, to slacken sail in order to keep her 
company. 

On the loth of February they took reckoning. But 
the coterie of captains and pilots, poring over their 
chart and tables, could not agree, and they differed 
more widely with Columbus than with each other. 
He believed they were in the latitude of Flores, the 
westernmost island of the Azores, while the rest 
thought they were in line with Madeira and one hun- 
dred and fifty leagues nearer Spain than his reckoning 
showed. As was generally the case in differences of 
the kind, Columbus was right. 

On the 12th the wind rose and the sea ran high. 
During the next day the gale still increased, and the 
crazy, creaking vessels labored hard. As the gloom 
of night settled down on the heaving billows, sharp 
flashes of lightning in the inky sky to the north- 



THE BLINDING STORM. 149 

northeast signalled the coming tempest, which soon 
bnrst npon them. Imagine these small sea-worn 
vessels without decks, in the mid-Atlantic, while the 
utmost violence of wind and waves rocks the elements 
about them. All night long the sails are furled, and 
the frail barks scud before the wind. For three days 
they bear up against the raging storm, barel}^ carrying 
sail enough to keep them from going down in the 
violent cross-waves. Then the sails are taken in 
again at night. Faint and yet fainter gleam the 
lights of the Pinta through the blinding mists till she 
is blown so far to the north with her weak mast that 
they disappear entirely. Frightful, indeed, was the 
outlook on the following morning. Far as the eye 
could reach, the clouds were driven like immeasurable 
angry forces, and the sea was lashed into fury ; and 
the sailors on the Nina looked out in vain into the 
tempest to catch a glimpse of the Pinta. All feared 
that she had gone down during the night. 

As the gale continued in all its violence, the crews 
resorted to vows. Using beans for casting lots — a bean 
for each man — the Admiral, putting his hand into the 
cap first, drew the bean marked with a cross, and so 
was designated to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of 
St. Mary of Guadalupe, carrying " a wax taper of five 
pounds weight." The next lot was for a pilgrimage 
to St. Mary of Loretto, " in the marc of Ancona, terri- 
tory of the Pope." This fell to one of the sailors, but 
Columbus volunteered to bear the expense. The next 
lot, to watch all night at St. Clara de Mogues, fell to 
the Admiral. To make the matter complete, they all 
vowed to go in their shirts to the nearest church of 



I^o THE DISTRESS OF THE ADMIRAL. 

" Our Lady," and there humble themselves, if ever 
they should reach land. Other vows were also made 
simply as private offerings of individuals. 

By this time the ship's store of provisions and water 
had been so lightened as to affect seriously the sailing 
for want of ballast. The remedy, supposed to have 
been original with Columbus, but since become com- 
mon among sailors, was to fill the empty casks with 
sea-water. 

Columbus and the crew on the Nina were well con- 
vinced that the Piiita was lost. The whole result of this 
momentous enterprise depended, therefore, on the safe 
return of the former vessel. But for this, with the frail 
and sea-worn condition of the Nina and the unremit- 
ting violence of the tempest, there was scarcely the 
shadow of a hope. The distress of the Admiral at this 
hour is best mirrored in his own words to the sov- 
ereigns : "I could have supported this evil fortune 
with less grief," said he, " had my person alone been 
in jeopardy, since I am debtor for my life to the 
supreme Creator, and have at other times been within 
a step of death. But it was a cause of infinite sorrow 
and trouble to think that, after having been illumi- 
nated from on high with faith and certainty to under- 
take this enterprise, after having victoriously achieved 
it, and when on the point of convincing my opponents 
and securing to your highnesses great glory and vast 
increase of dominions, it should please the divine 
Majesty to defeat all by my death. It would have 
been more supportable, also, had I not been accom- 
panied by others who had been drawn on by my per- 
suasions, and who, in their distress, cursed not only 



BETWEEN FEAR AND FAITH. i-i 

the hour of their coming-, but the fear inspired by my 
words, which prevented their turning back, as they had 
at various times determined. Above all, m}^ g^ef was 
doubled when I thought of my two sons, whom I had 
left in school at Cordova, destitute, in a strange land, 
without any testimony of the services rendered by 
their father, which, if known, might have inclined 
your highnesses to befriend them. And although, on 
the one hand, I was comforted by faith that the Deity 
would not permit a work of such great exaltation to 
his church, wrought through so many troubles and con- 
tradictions, to remain imperfect, j^et, on the other 
hand, I reflected on my sins, as a punishment for 
which he might intend that I should be deprived of 
the glory which might redound to me in this world." 
In the abstract of Columbus's journal given by Las 
Casas we have a still closer insight into the reflections 
of a great and devout mind in the midst of this inde- 
scribable scene of danger. That the world might 
know that he had accomplished his purpose was the 
grand point of anxiety for which he strove and for 
which he prayed. But his mind trembled in the 
balance between hope and fear. When he contem- 
plated his frail bark in such a tempest, it seemed as if 
the most trifling casualty, " even the weight of a 
mosquito," might send him and his intelligence of a 
new world to the bottom of mid-ocean. But had not 
the infinite Father enabled him to overcome all the 
difficulties of his overtures in Spain, and to make his 
discovery ? Had not the service of God been the aim 
and business of his undertaking ? And, more especially, 
had not God " delivered him when he had much greater 



1^2 AN INGENIOUS CONTRIVANCE. 

reason for fear, upon the outward voyage, at which 
time the crew rose up against him and, with a unani- 
mous and threatening voice, resolved to turn back, but 
the eternal God gave him spirit and valor against them 
all ? Would not divine providence carry to completion 
a vast work so notably sustained thus far ? 

Here is an intelligence which, with a truly just and 
benevolent feeling, comprehends the fearful situation, 
and yet hopes for the grandest possibility beyond. The 
words are more than eloquent — they breathe a genuine 
simplicity, a true humility, a sublime faith. 

Out of his wonted resource of contrivance Colum- 
bus drew a possible chance of preserving an account 
of the discovery. Writing on parchment a brief 
statement of the whole enterprise since putting to sea 
— no doubt one of his best samples of miniature 
chirography — he enclosed the same in a waxed cloth, 
and, putting it securely in a cask, committed it to the 
chances of the sea. Some one might take it up, and, 
finding the sealed letter to the sovereigns, covet the 
reward of a thousand ducats promised, at a venture, 
to him who should become courier to the King and 
Queen. In order that this chance might be doubled, 
another cask, similarly prepared, was placed on the 
poop of his vessel, to float away if he and his crew were 
lost. 

No doubt his men looked on this strange performance 
with curious eyes, but they were not let into the secret 
lest they should take alarm at the Admiral's sense of 
danger. 

With what joy must the tempest-tossed crew have 
beheld the streak of clear sky in the west at sunset on 



LAND! LAND! 1^3 

the 15th ! iVnd, though the sea ran high all night, the 
wind was favorable, and " the bonnet was set upon the 
mainsail." 

"Land! land!" was the cry of the sailor at the 
mast-head at break of day the next morning. Imagine 
the transports of delight in the crew at the sight of 
land once more, and that, too, near home ! But what 
land is this to the north-northeast, just over the prow 
of the caravel? To your charts, ye pilots! "The 
island of Madeira," cries one. " The rock Cintra, near 
Lisbon," cries another. " Some point of Spain," argue 
a number. Meanwhile all wait for the decision of the 
Admiral, who pronounces the land, now rounded out 
into an island, " One of the Azores." 

But while all hearts are beating with joy at the 
thought of landing, the wind changes, the sea rolls 
against them, and they cannot reach their goal. After 
two days of most tantalizing wind and waves, they 
come near enough to land to cast anchor, when lo ! the 
cable parts and they must put to sea again, where they 
beat about until morning. At last they effect a land- 
ing. They have reached St. Mar3'-'s, of the Ai^ores. 
This is a triumph for the Admiral in navigation ! 

Columbus was sh}^ of the Portuguese, and, as the 
three men he had sent on shore in the morning did 
not return, he feared he might be the victim of some 
jealous stratagem. After sunset, three men on the 
shore hailed the caravel. A boat was sent for them, 
and the}^ proved to be messengers from Castaneda, 
the governor of the island, bringing refreshments and 
the most cordial felicitations. The three missing men 
he was detaining to gratif}^ his curiosity by a full in- 



1^4 ^^^ PENITENTIAL PROCESSION. 

terview in respect to the wondrous tales they could tell 
of their perilous vo3'age and the new world. But noth- 
ing surprised him and the islanders more than that 
the frail caravel should have outrid the unparalleled 
tempest which had raged for so mau}^ daj^s. 

The next morning Columbus reminded his men of 
their vow to " Our Lad3^" Learning that there was a 
chapel dedicated to St. Mary in the neighborhood, he 
engaged the three men from the shore, who had 
remained on shipboard over night, to secure a priest 
to perform mass, and dividing the crew equally he 
sent one-half to redeem their vow first, he and the 
remaining half intending to go when these returned. 

It must have been a novel scene even in those days, 
this half-naked procession on their wa}^ to the church ! 
But why did they not return? Columbus waited until 
near midday in suspense. As he could not see the 
chapel from his position, he weighed anchor and stood 
out till he could command a view, when lo! there was 
descried a crowd of horse and foot around the little 
hermitage. Presently some of them, being armed, 
entered a boat and came towards him. He ordered 
his men to be ready for either defence or attack, but to 
keep out of sight. Those in the boat came peaceably, 
however, but they did not seem to think it safe to come 
too near. The governor, being in the boat, stood up 
and asked for a guarantee of personal safety if he 
came on board the caravel. This the Admiral granted, 
but wished to know why none of the Spaniards were 
in the boat. Still his honor did not venture to come 
very near. The Admiral now urged the Portuguese 
governor to come on board, intending to make him a 



THE ADMIRAL INDIGNANT. 



155 



prisoner and so recover his crew. The governor was 
too wary to come into the trap. Why were his men 
detained? demanded the Admiral. In what respect 
had he offended the King of Portugal ? Were not the 
Portuguese as free and safe in Castile as in Lisbon ? 
The Admiral held up his commission with the insignia 
of the sovereigns of Spain, his whole manner 
waxing decidedly indignant. " The King and 
Queen had instructed him to treat all subjects 
of Portugal with respect," he said, " for the two 
nations were at peace. The Portuguese should beware 
how they transgressed the proprieties of peace, lest 
they incur the ro3^al displeasure." If his men were 
detained on the island, he still had sailors enough left 
to take his caravel to Seville, where he would report 
this outrage against the kingdom of Castile. The 
governor then ordered the Admiral to proceed to the 
harbor with his caravel, saying he had done all " by the 
order of the King, his master." " The Admiral ordered 
all on board his vessel to bear witness to these trans- 
actions, and called out to the governor and those with 
him, vowing that he would not leave the caravel till he 
had carried a hundred of the Portuguese to Castile 
and depopulated the island. He then returned to his 
anchorage in the harbor, as the wind and weather did 
not admit of taking any other course." 

What could be the meaning of these strange move- 
ments ? Had war arisen between the two nations dur- 
ing his absence ? 

The next day brought another tempest, and, as the 
caravel was in danger of being driven onto a lee shore, 
the Admiral put to sea for the island St. Michael's, 



156 



THE PRISONERS LIBERA TED. 



but he now discovered that the half of his crew 
remaining to him contained only three experienced 
seamen. For some two days the bark, thus helplessly 
manned, drifted about in the utmost peril. The 
weather then moderating, they returned to St. Mary's. 

Now there came from the shore two priests and a 
notary. They were very patronizing. The governor 
was ready to do the Admiral any service, they said, if 
he could but be assured that he was under the patron- 
age of Spain. Would he not be so kind as to show 
his commission ? This being done to their satisfaction, 
they returned to the shore, and the next day the pris- 
oners were liberated. This last move of the governor 
was, no doubt, a studied way of getting out of a close 
place. 

When the prisoners returned, the mystery was solved. 
They had ascertained that the King of Portugal had 
instructed Castaiiedo, as well as others in like author- 
ity, to detain Columbus whenever he might appear, 
fearing lest his enterprise might in some way infringe 
on the rights of Portugal. The governor, failing to 
surprise him in the chapel, had resorted to stratagem, 
but he had failed alike in both. Now it behooved him 
to let himself down as easily as possible. 

Columbus, having had enough of St. Mary's and 
the Portuguese governor, sailed away on Sunday, the 
24th. For several days the weather was pleasant, but 
on Wednesday, the 27th, another contrary gale arose 
and a tempestuous sea. Having had no opportunity 
to recover from the exhaustive efforts necessary to him 
during the previous storm, so continuous and so severe, 
what \yonder that he now became impatient at being 



THE SAILS ARE RENT. j^y 

thus driven back from the very door of home ? And 
how natural that he should contrast the balmy days 
he had just spent in the land of perpetual summer 
with these terrific gales and threatening seas ! " Must 
it not be," he thought, that the earthly paradise 
spoken of in Genesis is somewhere in the remote east, 
as theologians have said ? It. almost seemed as if he 
had been near its borderland. 

The storm continued to rage, and at midnight on 
Sunday, March 3d, a squall so terrific struck the cara- 
vel that all her sails were "split" and she was 
obliged to scud under bare poles. They passed the 
next day in the tempest, and the following night was 
even more fearful than the former. The waves ran 
mountain high, the rain seemed to literally pour out 
of the heavens, while the lightning's glare and the loud 
peals of thunder in various parts of the firmament 
were enough to remind them of the final da}^ of doom. 
Lots were again cast, and there were pledges of solemn 
fasting. 

In the night, w^hile they labored with a terrible 
storm and were near meeting with destruction from 
the cross-sea, the fury of the wind, which seemed to 
carry them up to the skies, and the violent showers and 
lightning from many parts, there was the cry of 
" land !" but only to exchange one terror for another ; for, 
not knowing precisel}^ where they were, there was the 
most imminent danger of being dashed in pieces on 
rocks and shoals. The ragged sails were taken in^ 
and they kept aloof from shore till morning. The 
dawn revealed the well-known rock of Cintra, at the 
mouth of the Tagus. 



1^8 THE NINA ENTERS THE TAG US. 

Should he again put himself into the hands of the 
Portuguese ? Notwithstanding his distrust of this 
nation and their king, the violence of the storm left 
him no choice. In a letter written years afterwards to 
Dona Juana de la Torres he says : " I was driven by a 
tempest into the port of Lisbon, having lost ni}^ sails." 
Sailing up the mouth of the river the 4th of March, 
he cast anchor in front of Rastelo, about three o'clock 
in the afternoon. Can we imagine the sense of relief 
which came to these tempest-tossed mariners as they 
furled their sails in the calm and dropped anchor in 
the quiet river ! 

All along the shore the inhabitants had been watch- 
ing with prayerful anxiety as the caravel made way 
against the storm. Gray-haired mariners had never 
seen such a tempestuous winter. Many ships were 
lying in the harbors weather-bound, and many had 
been wrecked along the coast. 

One may imagine that the hand of the Admiral could 
scarcely have been steady as he penned the tidings of 
his return, to be borne by the swiftest messenger 
to the sovereigns of Spain, and he would have been 
more than human if he had not felt a little self-com- 
placent as he delivered for the King of Portugal his 
dispatch of a new world found in the west. Surely he 
might take the liberty of saying to him that in a case 
of necessity he had sought a Portuguese port, and that 
in order to be more safe than he might be at Rostelo 
he would like to be permitted to anchor at Lisbon. 

His misgiving was not altogether unwarranted, for, 
while the courier to the King was making his nine 
leagues to Valparaiso and back, a certain ofi&cer of the 



Z ISB ON IS MO VED. 159 

Portuguese navy, lying at Rastelo, demanded him to 
give an account of himself and his vessel, Columbus 
" stood on his dignity," af&rming his claim to respect 
as an admiral of Spain, and so refused to grant the 
request. This, after due explanation, v/as satisfactory, 
and now that the naval officer had learned the nature 
of the voj'age just made by this little caravel, he was 
ready to "lionize" her. Approaching with fifes, 
drums, and trumpets, he showed every possible defer- 
ence, and offered his services to the fullest extent. 

Lisbon was the one place in all the world to be most 
deeply moved by this wonderful discovery. Had not 
Portugal led the world for many decades in navigation, 
at once the most perilous and the most successful in 
opening up unknown parts ? But here was an achieve- 
ment, by one little boat, which quite eclipsed anything 
they could boast. For two days the Tagus teemed with 
crafts of ever}^ kind, from the stately barge to the small 
boat, bearing all classes of the curious and the inquir- 
ing, who gazed with increasing wonder on the plants, 
the birds, the animals, and, above all, the people, so 
unlike au}^ other they had ever seen. Surely God had 
bestowed the favor of this great discovery on the King 
and Queen of Spain, they said, on account of their 
devotion to the Christian faith. 

On Frida}^, the 8th of March, a cavalier from King 
John II. arrived, inviting the Admiral to court, and 
not only were his personal accommodations on the way 
to be free, but the King had ordered- that anything 
required for his vessel or his crews should be furnished 
in like manner. 

On that same evening of the arrival of the invitation 



1 6o COL UMB US BEFORE JOHN II. 

Columbus set out, and on the following evening 
reached the court. He was accompanied by the King's 
steward, and as he approached Valparaiso a companj^ 
of cavaliers came out to escort him into the royal 
presence. 

Here he is ordered to be seated, after the manner of 
royalty. The King congratulates him on his great 
achievement, and assures him that all things in his 
kingdom are at the service of him and his sovereigns. 
But mortification is mingled with the keenest interest 
in the Admiral's account — no doubt eloquently given 
— of the eventful voyage and the wonderful discoveries. 
Had all this been stupidly thrown away by the king- 
dom of Portugal ? The wish being father to the 
thought, he suggested that these wonderful parts just 
discovered might, after all, possibly be included in the 
capitulations to himself by Spain in 1479 ' These 
capitulations Columbus had never seen, but he knew 
well that he had sailed far enough from the coast of 
Africa. Be that as it might, said the King, he and 
the sovereigns of Spain could easily adjust the matter. 
How little did these two personages know what part 
of the world they were talking about ! 

The Admiral was most royally entertained for the 
night by the prior of Crato, the principal personage of 
the place, and was requested to meet the King again 
the next day in order to complete the charming inter- 
view. The latter asked all sorts of questions about 
the soil of this new country, its productions, its people, 
the route thence, etc., etc. All these inquiries Colum- 
bus answered most minutely in order to convince his 
Royal Highness that he had not been in Guinae. 



A JEALOUS COURT. i5i 

Unfriendly critics have found an important point 
against Columbus in the account of this interview, as 
given by certain Portuguese historians and biogra- 
phers, Barros, Souza, and Vasconcilos, who say that he 
deported himself loftily, and spoke in a very vaunting 
and provoking manner to the King, as if to pique and 
worrjr him over his lost opportunit}^ — so much so that 
it is said some of the indignant courtiers present sug- 
gested his assassination. The}^ had seen the Indians 
in Columbus's ship, thc}^ said, and they looked like 
the people within the route of the discoveries of Portu- 
gal. The most remote lands discovered by their own 
nation were very near to those found by Columbus. 
He, therefore, had not discovered any new country, 
and deserved to die for having tried to embroil the two 
nations. Thej^ would provoke him, and, having gotten 
him into a quarrel, slay him as if b}^ accident or in 
honorable combat. But the King was too far above 
such dastard plotting to accept the advice. 

No doubt Portugal was bitterly chagrined at the 
loss of this magnificent enterprise. How grand it 
would have been to have added India in the west of 
the Atlantic to Africa in the east ! How easil}^ within 
their reach it had once been ! And who could tell 
what relation these new-found lands might bear to 
those the}^ were exploring ? For, be the world round 
or fiat, the vast relations of sea and land, both to the 
east and to the west, were as yet a mystery. Indeed, up 
to this hour the great ocean seas were but little known 
outside the Mediterranean. 

In every word and look of Columbus these jealous 
courtiers would see and hear much more than he meant 



1 62 COLUMBUS BEFORE THE ^UEEN. 

to convey. And in view of all the circumstances of 
the case, if the Admiral felt just a little self-conscious, 
and a slight inward sense of triumph over those who 
had doubted him and openly set him at naught, and 
could not altogether conceal these feelings, what 
wonder ? — what blame ? 

On Monda}^, March nth, after dinner, Columbus 
took leave of the King, having received every mark of 
affection, and was escorted on his way for some 
distance by all the knights of the court. As the 
womanly curiosity of the Queen, now at Villa Franca, 
had requested an interview with the newly-made Ad- 
miral bearing such remarkable tidings, he stopped 
there on the way, and was received in the most cordial 
manner by her and her ladies in attendance. Again 
the wonderful story was told to a most appreciative 
group of listeners. 

Columbus boarded his caravel on the 13th of March, 
and reached Palos at noon on Friday, the 15th, after an 
absence of a little less than seven months and a 
half. 




CHAPTERpX. 

THE TRIUMPHANT ARRIVAL. 

OW the little town of Palos was wild witli joy 
as they beheld the familiar image of the 
1. Nina floating inside the bar of Salt has 
long been known to the Avorld and can easily be 
imagined. Here were at least a part of those who had 
long since been given up as lost in the " Sea of Dark- 
ness," and they could tell something about the missing 
ones. There are faces wet with the tears of delight, 
because those most cherished in their affections are 
returned to them — almost like those raised up from the 
dead ! But there are other tearful faces revealing a joy 
far less complete, because those whom they cherish 
most are simply heard from in the distance, and the 
uneasy imagination is left to fill up their more recent 
fate, which, after all, may be too sad to be conjectured. 
Yet joy everywhere prevails. The crowds throng the 
docks ; and the shops along the double street which 
monopolizes the little town, cradled in a depression 
between high hills, are closed ; the church bell rings, 
and old and young follow the Admiral up the hill 
to St. George's church, just outside the village. 
Here they kneel devoutly, scarcely noticing the image 
of St. George and the dragon just over the altar, for 
all are returning thanks for the great discovery and 
for the safe return of so many. 

On this same afternoon, while the air is yet vibrating 



1 64 THE PI NT A ARRIVES. 

to these shouts and peals of universal joy, yonder 
conies the Pijita^ passing the bar of Salt, and standing 
up the harbor. The storm having blown her away 
into the Bay of Biscay, she had made the port of 
Bayonne ; whence Pinzon, supposing Columbus to 
have been lost, had written to the Spanish sovereigns, 
asking permission to report the great discovery in 
person at court. He had expected to surprise Palos ; 
but, seeing how he had been anticipated by the Ad- 
miral, his enthusiasm was cooled at the recollection of 
his desertion and at the thought of what might fol- 
low in consequence. He therefore disembarked quietly. 
His health was shattered, his high reputation as one 
of the chief aids to this great enterprise damaged, 
and, as he soon received an admonitory letter from the 
court, which gave him to understand that his presence 
there would not be welcome — at least not without that 
of Columbus — he sank under the weight of mortifica- 
tion and disappointment, and died in a very short time. 
Poor Pinzon ! He had been guilty of a serious mis- 
demeanor, and sad was the expiation he had to make, 
but let his incalculable services in revealing one-half 
the globe be most gratefully remembered. What 
could Columbus have done without him ? Engrave 
his virtues " on the rock," but write his errors " in the 
sand." 

The sovereigns were now in Barcelona, an important 
seaport town in Catalonia. Tidings truly welcome, 
almost transporting, was this message from the courier 
as to the New World ! For once, Ferdinand's cautious 
reserve must have been shaken, and Isabella's san- 
guine, generous nature must have been moved to its 



COLUMBUS GOES TO BARCELONA. 



i6s 



utmost depth. Let Mercury, messenger of the gods, 
with winged feet, fly ! Tell the Admiral to come at 
once, straight across the kingdom of Spain, and in his 
own moving words relate this astounding event to the 
King and Queen ! 

Meanwhile, Columbus has gone to Seville to await 
the royal orders. B}^ the 30th of March the anwer is 
at hand. How shall he proceed to this distant point ? 
In his caravel along the Mediterranean ? This was his 
first impulse ; but no, he has had salt water enough for 
awhile. April is about to unfold her vernal charms in 
this delightful climate, so he will go by land, obliquely, 
almost across the kingdom. But he must first set in 
motion preparations for an immediate second voyage. 
So the sovereigns have requested in their short but en- 
thusiastic letter, just arrived. 

News always had swift wings, even before railroads 
and telegraphs. Ere long all Spain was on the move 
to learn as much as possible about this new thing 
under the sun, which was to eclipse alike the Portu- 
guese discoveries in Africa and the subjugation of the 
Moors at home. By the time Columbus was on the way 
the whole country was thronging him en route. Every 
cit}'- and town through which he passed was an ovation. 
The six Indians with him — one had died on the way 
across the ocean and three were sick at Palos — took the 
lead, so ornamented as to represent the golden wealth 
of the Indies. Then followed the brilliant birds; 
brilliant, indeed, they must have been, especially the 
forty parrots mentioned as in the procession. There 
were the most striking specimens of plants and fruits, 
wholly new to the beholders ; especiall}^ noticeable were 



1 66 THE PEOPLE THRONG HIM. 

the spices and the royal palms, which might indicate 
the outskirts of India. Do not fail to note the brightly 
ornamented belts, the figure-heads or masks pieced out 
and trimmed with gold, and the rudely fashioned 
coronets of the precious metal — all presented by the 
chieftains, and disclosing alike the wealth and the 
novel style of life in the newly-discovered country. 

But all this merely prepares the eye to behold Co- 
lumbus himself following on horseback and sur- 
rounded, ere he reached Barcelona, with a splendid 
cavalcade of courtiers and hidalgoes who had come, in 
their eagerness, to escort him into the city. It is but 
rational, and requires no stretch of the imagination, to 
accept the account of the people thronging and crowd- 
ing from every direction to get a glimpse of this unpre- 
cedented sight. The windows, the balconies, the sides 
of the narrow streets, and even the housetops, would be 
crowded with curious spectators of every age and 
character. Those bending under the weight of years, 
those in the full strength of manhood and womanhood, 
the beauty and buoyancy of youth, and the innocent, 
gaping curiosity of childhood — all would be there, 
elbowing their way to the front. The poet or the artist 
who should depict the scene otherwise would surely be 
delinquent to human nature. The bruit of the dis- 
cover3^ had caused a great sensation in the court and 
among the people ; and, great and momentous as it was 
in itself, it was supposed to be even more wonderful in 
some respects than it really was. Nothing, in those 
days at least, could turn people's heads and set every- 
body wild like the news of boundless wealth ready to 
hand — gold! pearls! precious jewels ! Was not such 



COLUMBUS BEFORE THE MONARCHS. 



167 



tlie wealth of farthest India, of which they now 
beheld the trophies ? What would have been their 
feelings had they known that they were only beholding 
the symbols of the great American wilderness, swarm- 
ing with savages ? 

But the King and Queen ? Behold them, in the most 
regal state of expectancy, seated on a dais under a 
canopy of brocade of gold, in the Alcazar or Arabian 
castle, once the seat of the Moorish kings, now occupied 
by the bishop of Urgil. On their right is Prince Juan^ 
the heir-apparent. The tall and stately figure of the 
Admiral enters, white-haired and venerable as a Roman 
senator, and surrounded by a crowd of ga}^ cavaliers. 
As he approaches, the monarchs rise. He kneels to 
kiss their hands, which thej^ give with deferential hesi- 
tation, and graciously lift him up and signal him to sit 
in their presence, after the manner of royalty. 

Let him now tell where he has been and what he has 
seen, for every ear is listening with the utmost tension 
of curious interest. Speak, O Admiral and Viceroy of 
the Indies, for this is the grandest and proudest hour of 
your life. Drain the cup of joy — it is your supreme 
moment, and the tide of your glory will soon ebb, never 
to rise again in your day. 

Columbus may have discovered a foreign accent, but 
he was without doubt an able speaker ; and here were 
the representative subjects of his discourse, to be 
pointed out in passing — here was such an audience as 
few men of his rank ever addressed. And the story ! — 
it was well worthy of the audience, listening in almost 
breathless astonishment. Truly this is news ! — news 
from the antipodes, and here are the evidences — tangi- 



l68 A NEW ERA. 

ble — visible ; no old musty parchment of Marco Polo 
or John Mandeville, but the direct living word and liv- 
ing things from beyond the " Sea of Darkness " ! 

It is an hour of intense feeling ; but the thought 
does not seem to be of wealth or dominion — a tide of 
religious emotion carries everything before it. Mines 
of gold and seas of pearl there may be, but here is a 
pagan world, naked and destitute, given to the care and 
tutelage of the church, which has just conquered the 
heathen within its borders. The things contemplated 
are not only mysterious, but truly immense. They are 
at least conscious, it would seem, of the fact — these 
great minds — that an incalculable change is about to 
come to the world. A new era is dawning. They are 
overshadowed by the hifinite. The discourse ended, the 
sovereigns are kneeling with clasped hands and tearful 
eyes lifted heavenward, uttering thanksgiving and 
praise to Almighty God for this great and strange prov- 
idence. The entire audience follow the example. No 
shouts of joy, no loud acclaim of triumph, but solemn 
silence, tearful devotion, thought unutterable ! From 
the royal chapel choir, accompanied by instruments, 
swells forth the inimitable Te Denm Laudamus.^ bear- 
ing all hearts heavenward, " so that it seemed as if, in 
that hour, they communicated with celestial delights," 
says the venerable Las Casas, who, then some eighteen 
years of age, was probably a student at Salamanca, 
and who was afterwards intimately acquainted with Co- 
lumbus, as also with others who witnessed the above. 

What an event, what an impression was this ! — at 
once the grandest reality and the greatest delusion ; 
the former to be proven by the nations in the centuries 



COL UMB US IN HONOR. 1 69 

to come, but, alas ! the latter only to be experienced by 
Columbus. But let us not anticipate the shadows and 
the darkness — they will come soon enough. Let the 
great discoverer enjoy to the full these days of popular 
applause and courtly esteem. Let the dignitaries of 
church and state crowd around him, and feel honored 
by a few words of conversation with him about the 
new world. Let him appear amidst the crowds, " his 
face wreathed with smiles of content." Let him ride 
out on his horse, King Ferdinand on one side and 
Prince Juan on the other. And is he not entitled to 
dictate measures to the sovereigns, as to the manage- 
ment of the great enterprises of the Indies ? The high 
honors of the hour have cost him many anxious, strug- 
gling years, and they will be followed b}^ days dark and 
tempestuous enough. Surely the reward allotted Co- 
lumbus for his stupendous achievement was but slen- 
der — a few years of bitter trial, disappointment, and 
suffering both of body and of mind. 

Well, we must not forget that story about the ^%% ! 
Cardinal Mendoza, always friendly to Columbus, even 
in the dark days of the antechamber, is said to have 
now made a banquet in his special honor. During the 
repast, a jealous courtier asked : If he — Columbus — 
had not discovered the Indies, were there not other men 
in Spain who might have done so ? On the principle 
that actions sometimes speak louder than words, the 
Admiral took an ^^^ and invited any one of the com- 
pany to make it stand on end. After the vain attempt, 
various!}^ and amusingly' made, no doubt, had gone the 
round, he touched it to the table firmh^ enough to 
depress the end, and so made it stand. 



lyo APPRECIATION OF COLUMBUS. 

Like many other striking incidents in the lives of 
great men, this lacks the earliest and best authority, 
being first given by Benzoni in 1865. But if the illus- 
tration were " a hackneyed one even in those days, and 
we find it ascribed, among others, to Brunelleschi, the 
architect who constructed the marvellous cupola of the 
Cathedral of Florence seventy years before the first 
voyage of Columbus," still it may have been original 
at Mendoza's table — at least in the manner of its ap- 
plication. At all events, it bids fair to live as long 
as the name of Columbus ; and, as Irving has said, 
" the universal popularity of the anecdote is a proof of 
its merit." 

As a signal of honor to himself and family, the sov- 
ereigns gave him a coat-of-arms. May 20th ; the field 
of which contained, above, a lion to the right and a 
castle to the left ; and below, five golden anchors on a 
blue ground to the right, and a sort of archipelago of 
golden islands on a sea of waves to the left. Tlie}^ also 
prefixed to his name, with much preamble and formality 
of statement, the title " Don," which implied a high 
honor in those days. Now it scarcely means more than 
Mr. does in English. 

As to the inscription, — 

" To Castile and to Leon 
Columbus gave a new world," 

it does not appear in the earliest representations of the 
escutcheon, and in the biography ascribed to Ferdinand 
Columbus the motto is said to have been placed on his 
father's tomb by the King some time after his death. 
Ferdinand's • appreciation of the greatest man in his 
realm seems to have overtaken him somewhat late — 
after that man was cold and silent in death. 




CHAPTER X. 

THE BOUNDARY LINE AND THE SECOND VOYAGE. 

PAIN and Portugal were rival nations, so 
closely and compactl}^ located as to be able 
to watch eacli other with the most narrow- 
eyed vigilance. The Pope, regarded as ruler of Chris- 
tendom, and so, in a spiritual sense at least, ruler over 
all nations, was supposed to be able to give awa}^ a 
heathen territory to any Christian nation who might 
discover or conquer it with intent of evangelization. 
For more than half a century these incumbents'of the 
papal chair had given Portugal permission to sail south, 
and to Spain the same privilege to the westward. And 
in 1479 the two nations had agreed to abide by this 
decision as to their naval enterprises. For many years 
Portugal seemed to have the field of promise ; and no 
limit appeared, as yet, to the rich territories of Africa. 
Spain, meanwhile, might content herself with her 
colony on the Canaries, or speculate on the " Sea of 
Darkness." Now the scene of action was changed. 
Columbus, sailing to the west, had found the most mag- 
nificent islands and v/hat seemed to be a mainland. 
■ Spain w^as *sure her caravels had not trespassed on the 
undiscovered territories assigned to her neighbor, but 
the latter was not so sure. So, in order to prevent all 
cbntroversy, Spain applied to Alexander VI. to draw a 
line of demarcation. On May 3d, 1493, ^^ imaginary 
limit was announced, one hundred leagues west of the 



172 



LINE OF NO VARIATION. 



Azores and Cape Verde Islands. Beyond this Spain 
miglit have the field to the west, if she would plant the 
Catholic faith in the new territories. No one thought 
of the trouble which such a line might cause on the 
other side of the globe. 

This line of demarcation corresponds with Colum- 
bus's line of no variation of the compass, and was no 
doubt suggested by him. That this line made a great 
impression upon him is clear from his own words : 

" Each time that I sail from Spain to India, as soon 
as I have proceeded about a hundred nautical miles to 
the west of the Azores, I perceive an extraordinary 
variation in the movements of the heavenly bodies, in 
the temperature of the air, and in the character of the 
sea. I have observed these alterations with especial 
care, and I notice that the mariner's compass, whose 
declination had hitherto been northeast, was now 
changed to northwest ; and when I had crossed this 
line, as if in passing the brow of a hill, I found the 
ocean covered by such a mass of sea-weed, similar to 
small branches of pine covered with pistachi nuts, 
that we were apprehensive that, for want of a suffi- 
ciency of w^ater, our ships would run upon a shoal. 
Before we reached the line of which I speak there was 
no trace of any such sea-weed. On the boundary line, 
one hundred m.iles w^est of the Azores, the ocean becomes 
at once still and calm, being scarcely even moved by 
a breeze. On my passage from the Canary Islands to 
the parallel of Sierra Leone we had to endure a fright- 
ful degree of heat, but as soon as we had crossed the 
above-mentioned line the climate changed, the air 
became temperate, and the freshness increased the 
farther we advanced." 



PORTUGUESE STRATEGIC. 173 

How natural, if not necessary, therefore, it is 
to believe, with Humboldt and others, that Columbus 
sought to fix the political line by the physical. But 
other lines of no variation have since been found ; so 
that this was, after all, no natural limit of territory. 

Portugal was exceedingly anxious to get a foothold 
in the newly-discovered country, and went so far as 
to fit out vessels for that purpose, thinking, no doubt, 
\h.2X possession was " nine points out of ten in the law." 
She was as tricky now as she had been with Columbus 
some years before. Ferdinand either knew or sus- 
pected what was in progress, and sent an embassador 
with two letters, one friendly and the other threaten- 
ing. He might use the one or the other, as the case, 
might demand on his arrival. But King John had 
bribed Ferdinand's counsellors, who kept him con- 
stantly advised of this monarch's plans, and thus he 
was made ready for the double message. Having 
escaped the trap, he sent to his royal brother, saying 
that during sixt}^ days, while they might be discuss- 
ing matters, no vessel should sail on any vo3^age of 
discovery. This might prove a quietus to the excite- 
ment ; then, too, he must be conciliatory, for he 
wanted the dividing line to run due west from the 
Canaries, instead of north and south. This sort of 
parleying just suited Ferdinand. He would now have 
time to get Columbus read}' for his second voyage, 
while King John's hands were thus fastened b}' his 
own tying. He sent another embassj^, which was 
instructed to travel slowl}^, to procrastinate in ever}^ 
possible wa}', and, if they could not gain time enough 
otherwise, to call an arbitration. King John saw 



1 74 BISHOP FONSICA . 

through the scheme, and, helplessly chagrined, said, 
" These embassadors have neither feet to travel nor 
head to propose." He was beaten and gave np the 
contest. Behold these kings playing their sharp 
game for islands and continents ! 

Everything was on the move now, in order to be 
ready as soon as possible for Columbus's second voyage. 
Free lodgings were granted him and his servitors 
wherever he went. The titles and privileges before 
granted were confirmed, and he was given the royal 
seal, to be used as occasion might require. May 28th, 
after having received every possible demonstration of 
favor from the sovereigns and from the whole court, 
he left Barcelona, and reached Seville earh^ in 
June. Here he was joined by Juan Rodrigues de P'on- 
sica, archdeacon of Seville, appointed b}'' the Crown to 
direct preparations. This church dignitary is painted 
in very dark colors by most writers.^ He began to 
take issue at once with Columbus in his plans of prep- 
aration, particularly in respect to the number of foot- 
men he was to have as Admiral and Viceroy. Foiled 
in this demur by the sovereigns, he seems to have 
contracted an implacable enmity toward his victim, 
whom he never ceased to persecute till the day of his 
death, and then he seems to have transferred his 
spirit of unyielding bitterness to the Admiral's 
descendants. He held the control of the affairs of the 



-"A shrewd man of business, a hard task-master, an implacable enemy, 
he displayed, during his long administration of Indian affairs, all the quali- 
ties of an unscrupulous tyrant, and was instrumental in inflicting on the 
islanders keener miseries than ever have been brought by conqueror upon a 
subject race." — Helps' Life of Christopher Columbus. 



FITTING OUT THE FIEET 



175 



Indies some thirty years. A thoroughly worldly and 
unforgiving spirit seems to have marked his career. 

" Money ! mone}^ !" is often the cry of kings as well 
as of common people. The new fleet would require 
funds. There was a royal order which put all the 
ships and seamen in the ports pf Andalusia at the 
service of Columbus and Fonsica at reasonable pay. 
This would ensure convenience and econom3\ Then 
two-thirds of the tithes of the church were appropriated ; 
also certain sequestered propert}^ of the Jews, so cruelly 
banished. Other resources were husbanded. Finally, 
a loan of 5,000,000 maravedis was secured from the 
Duke of Medina-Sidonia. 

Artillery and weapons of warfare of all kinds were 
gathered from the various ships of the nation. Mili- 
tary stores left over from the Moorish wars and stored 
in the Alhambra, now degraded into an arsenal, were 
laid under requisition. Everything was hurr}^ and 
bustle, for Portugal was watching and might take advan- 
tage of delay. 

How remarkably Ital}^ is destined to contribute to 
these enterprises in discovery ! Did Perestrello and 
Cadamosto aid Prince Henry ? Here is not only Co- 
lumbus in this important service of Spain, but the man 
who presides over all this din of preparation in the 
harbor of Seville, Juonato Beradi, is a Florentine mer- 
chant now settled here ; and, more interesting still, 
that man assisting him so energetically is Americiis 
Vespuccius^ hereafter to give name, unwittingly albeit, 
to one-half of the globe. He is an active and well-culti- 
vated man of some forty-two years. 

As for Isabella, she is now a sort of missionary. 



1 76 EMBARK A TION A T CADIZ. 

The Indians brought to Barcelona by Columbus are 
baptised, the King, the heir-apparent, and the Queen 
herself standing as sponsors ; the whole affair being 
conducted according to the ecclesiastical magnificence 
of the times. She is instructing the Admiral to deal 
kindly with the natives of the new country, and 
punish all such as impose on them or put stumbling- 
blocks in the way of their conversion to the faith. To 
Bernardo Buil, the Benedictine monk selected by the 
Pope as his apostolical vicar, she gives the sacred 
vestments and vessels of her own chapel. He and 
his twelve consecrated assistants must do all they can 
to establish a church in the new world. 

The scene of active preparation is now transferred 
to the harbor of Cadiz, from which the fleet is to sail. 
Seventeen vessels in all are here — three stately 
carracks, several yacht-like crafts of light draft for 
coasting and exploring ; the rest are caravels, rounded 
up at prow and stern after the picturesque style of 
that time. An extensive fleet, this, compared with the 
three small vessels which sailed from Palos less than 
a year ago ! From every direction the stores of out- 
fit and provisions and the tide of living things flow in. 
Here comes a stock of cows ; also horses, asses, and 
other beasts ; here are farm implements and seeds of 
all the grains, vines, and fruit trees of all kinds — every- 
thing of the kind needed in stocking a new country. 
It is a sort of entry of Noah's Ark on a large scale. 

But'the people ! — see them crowd and throng ! No 
opening of prisons now ; no persuasion whatever 
necessary. " Men were ready to leap into the sea to 
swim, if it had been possible, into those new-found 



THE PEOPLE WHO EMBARK. 1-7 

parts," sa3'S one who lived near that time. At first 
the number permitted to go had been limited to 1,000; 
but, under the pressure, it soon rose to 1,200, and 
finally is supposed to have reached in all nearl}^ 1,500. 
In addition to all the crews, artisans, laborers, and 
officers, here was the adventurer, ready for good luck 
or bad, as the case might be, expecting, somehow, to 
get an immense amount of gold. Here was the 
pleasure-seeker, dreaming of some elysium of easy 
delectation and unparalleled scenes of beauty. Here 
was the soldier, looking for unheard-of feats in arms. 
Finall}', here were those who merely wanted to go, 
they could scarcely tell why, but managed to move 
along with the crowd, unchallenged, and stow them- 
selves away unseen. All, all expecting, somehow, to 
pick up an immense fortune. 

But there are some here who must not be lost in the 
crowd — Alonzo de Ojeda, a dashing, daring young 
soldier from the Moorish wars, and favorite of the 
Duke of Medina-Celi ; Diego, youngest brother of 
Columbus ; Las Casas, father of the famous bishop 
and apostle to the Indians, and also an uncle; Juan 
Ponce de Leon, of Florida fame afterwards ; Juan de 
la Cosa, who made the first map of the new world, 
and Dr. Chanca, of Seville, one of the chief chroniclers 
of the voyage. 

Strikingly impressive must have been that last day 
in port. The twelve ecclesiastics, under their leader, 
would see to it that the accustomed religious rites 
were performed by all the crews. Friends embraced 
each other. Not only from the masts did gay banners 
float, but brilliant colored fabrics decorated many of 



178 



THE FLEET LEAVES THE HARBOR. 



the ships. The royal standard was on the stern of 
every vessel. Pipers, harpers, clarions, and trnmpets 
vied with each other, and " held in mnte astonishment 
the neriads and even the sirens with their sweet modu- 
lations." Cheers rent the air, and cannon thundered 
across the waters. 

The morning of the 25th of September dawned 
auspiciously. Before sunrise the voices of the sailors 
were heard, as thej^ weighed anchors and hoisted their 
sails. The vessels fall into line, and are escorted out onto 
the deep by Venetian galleys. Surely this is a sud- 
den rise of glory for the Admiral, one of which his 
excitable nature must be intensely conscious. 

A week of uneventful sailing passes, and on the ist 
of October the fleet reaches the Gran Canaria. Here 
they stop to repair a leaky ship. On the 5th they 
reach Gomera, where they remain two days to com- 
plete their outfit. Finding here all the thriving indus- 
tries of civilized life, they take in, not merely wood 
and water, but also increase their stock of domestic 
animals — calves, goats, sheep, and the swine from which 
descended the abundant supply of these animals for 
which the new world is afterwards noted, some of 
them even reverting to the original wild state. Domes- 
tic fowls also are taken in, and seeds and plants for 
the orange, the lemon, melons, &c. 

On the 7th they are under way again, but for six 
days they are becalmed among these islands. On the 
13th, however, a fresh breeze swells their sails, and 
they bear to the south of the course of the former 
voyage, for the Admiral is desirous of seeing those 
islands inhabited by " man-eaters," said to lie south- 
east of Hayti. 



STORM AT SEA. 



179 



As they are now out on the wide sea, Columbus 
gives sealed directions to the several captains, to be 
opened only if the vessels become scattered, in order 
that none may fail to make their port at La Navidad. 
Las Casas says these instructions were under seal in 
order that even the captains might be dependent on 
Columbus for their course to the new world, and no one 
be able to divulge the secret. As they now swept on 
charmingly in the track of the trade-winds their only 
hindrance was the tard}^, heav}'- sailing of the Ad- 
miral's ship. Dr. Chanca thought they had lost one- 
fourth of their time on the voyage on account of her. 
Ten days passed and still they were sailing grandly. 
But where are those great tracts of sea-weeds which 
were encountered on the former voyage ? They are 
away to the north, and are not needed this time to 
remind the timid sailors of land. Now the ships are 
outward bound for a definite port, every eye antici- 
pating the most magnificent landfall at the end of the 
voyage. 

As the end of the month approached they were sur- 
prised by drenching rains, sharp lightnings, and crash- 
ing thunder. For hours the fleet was tempest-tossed, 
and danger, dark and threatening, prevailed. In the 
language of Syllacius, a contemporary writer, " Their 
yards were broken, their sails torn, their ropes snapped 
asunder, the timbers creaked, the decks were floating 
with brine, some ships hung suspended on the sum- 
mits of the waves, while to others the yawning floods 
disclosed the bottom between the billows." But, lo ! 
the clear glow of lights at the tips of the masts and 
yards of the ships, especially the Admiral's ship, as- 



l8o ST. ELMO'S LIGHTS. 

sures one and all that the good St. Elmo is present 
with his candles and will secure the stilling of the 
tempest. According to the custom of sailors, under 
the spell of this time-honored superstition, the crews, 
with tears of joy, salute the saint by chanting their 
" sacred hjnnns " and " offering prayers." " Forth- 
with the tempest began to abate, the sea to remit its 
fury, the waves their violence, and the surface of the 
waves became as smooth as polished marble." So 
says Coma, a writer of that time. Herrera, a Spanish 
historian, referring to the same nautical superstition 
occurring in the famous vo3'age of Magellan, says : 
" During these great storms, they said that St. Elmo 
appeared at the topmast with a lighted candle, and 
sometimes with two, upon which the people shed tears 
of joy, receiving great consolation, and saluted him 
according to the custom of mariners. He remained 
visible for a quarter of an hour, and then disappeared 
with a great flash of lightning which blinded the peo- 
ple," Both Pliny and Seneca mention a similar super- 
stition as prevailing among Roman mariners, who 
attributed the lights to Castor and Pollux, tutelary 
divinities of sailors in ancient times. Hence the sign 
which St. Paul saw on the Alexandrian ship, referred 
to in Acts viii, ii. These lights of St. Elmo are 
now known to be simply a natural phenomenon. 
When storm-clouds, heavily charged with electricity, 
float low over the earth, an electrical communication 
takes place between them and such projecting points 
as church-spires and masts of ships, causing them to 
glow with a blue-white light, which may continue for 
a number of seconds or even minutes. 



LAND IN SIGHT. iSi 

Saturday evening, November ad, finds the crews 
weary with the vo3^age, which must have been ini- 
mensel}^ greater than most of them had ever expe- 
rienced. The sailors, too, are tired with bailing out the 
water from leaky ships. It would seem, also, that 
the suppl}^ of fresh water was becoming scant, and 
that some were suffering from thirst. The pilots cast 
up their reckonings, some concluding- that the}- were 
780 leagues from the Canaries, and others making the 
distance 800 leagues. The Admiral is looking sharpl}- 
at the sky and sea, and is watching the shifting puffs 
of wind. He is sure, from the color of the water, the 
motion of the waves, the changing Avinds, and the fit- 
ful showers, that land is near. With his wonted 
caution, he therefore gives orders to take in sail, and 
watch careful 1}^ throughout the night. 

The first light of Sundaj^ morning gilds the top of 
a high mountain directly ahead. All are cheered with 
the cry of " land " from the mast-head of the Admiral's 
ship. Shouts of joy ring out upon the waves from 
the whole fleet. Dominica shall be the name of the 
majestic island heaving in full view, says Columbus, 
for is it not Sunda}^ ? As the ships move on, other 
islands, clad in elysian beaut}-, rise above the horizon 
like beatific visions. Flights of brightl}^ colored, 
noisy parrots and other brilliant tropical birds are 
winging their way from one island to another, and the 
w^ind from off the land is laden with sweet odors. 
Every vessel now becomes a sanctuary-. The decks 
bustle wdth the crews and passengers, and the united 
fleet gives thanks for the prosperous voyage, and chants 
the impressive service of the church, including the 



l82 GUADALOUPE. 

Salva Regina. Surely this is a fitting manner of 
saluting the Nezv World on the Lord'^s day. 

Bvery one is eager to set foot on the land, but Co- 
lumbus can find no good anchorage for the fleet along 
this island, so they sail to the next one of large size, 
which he names Mariagalante, after his ship. Here 
they land and set up the royal banner, taking pos- 
session, by means of the usual ceremony, of this, along 
with the other five islands they have just passed. 
But are there no inhabitants in this luxuriant forest 
redolent with spices ? Is there no ej-e to behold these 
brilliant flowers ? — no hand to pluck this luscious 
fruit? They search in vain. The island is a solitude. 

As nothing could be so interesting here as some 
specimen of humanity, they make sail for the next 
large island. Another night is spent on the water, and 
the dawn reveals a most romantic landscape. A vol- 
canic peak rises to an immense height, and cataracts, 
pouring down its sides, appear like water falling out of 
heaven. Columbus, recalling a promise made to the 
monks of " Our Lady of Guadaloupe," in Estremadura, 
names this large and wonderful island Gimdaloupe. 

The next day they land and pass a week of sight- 
seeing. Here is the first village in the New World ! — 
desolate and forsaken, however, excepting the infants 
and little ones, whom the terrified mothers have left be- 
hind in their flight. But their frightened, innocent 
staring is soon diverted by gentle caresses and by those 
tinkling hawk's bells and other bright trinkets which 
the strangers bind upon their naked arms. 

Let us look around upon this strange village ! — upon 
this scene in human life forever passed away ! The 



A VILLAGE OF THE NATLVES. 183 

houses — about thirty, built of logs or poles, iuterwoveu 
with branches and huge reeds and thatched with the 
immense, tough leaves of the palm — are not constructed 
after the circiila?', zvigiva7n siyle^ so common on most 
other islands, but are square and cottage-like^ with 
porticoes, the posts of which are sometimes carved to rep- 
resent objects — serpents in one instance. And the}^ are 
built around a square, in truly social style. Let us enter 
and examine the furniture. Ah ! here is the hammock, 
the Indian bed, which is to add a novelt}^ to civilized 
luxury and a new word to our language. It is made 
of a loose, rope-like twisting of cotton, tied in a net-like 
form, and hung by cords. For dishes, here is the cala- 
bash, rude earthen bowls, and, O horrors ! human 
skulls for drinking vessels ! Here are fabrics of cot- 
ton — " many cotton sheets,'' saj^s Dr. Chanca, " so well 
woven as to be in no way inferior to those of our 
country " — and also cotton j^arn and the crude wool. 
Here are huge bows and arrows tipped with bone 
— bones of human shins, the best judges think. Dr. 
Chanca mentions arrows pointed " with tortoise-shell " 
and " fish spines," '' barbed like coarse saws." 

The same author — and he was an eye-w4tness of the 
very scenes we are now describing — says of these 
islanders, the Caribs : " In their attacks upon the 
neighboring islands, these people capture as many of 
the women as they can, especiall}^ those who are 3'oung 
and beautiful, and keep them as concubines ; and so 
great a number do they carry off that in fifty houses 
no men were to be seen, and out of the number of the 
captives more than twenty were young girls. These 
women also say that the Caribbees use them with such 



i84 



CAR IB CRUELTY TO CAPTIVES. 



cruelty as would scarcely be believed, and that they 
eat the children which they bear to them, and only 
bring up those which they have by their native wives. 
Such of their male enemies as they can take alive 
they bring to their houses to make a feast of them, 
and those who are killed they devour at once. They 
say that man's flesh is so good that there is nothing 
like it in the world ; and this is pretty evident, for of 
the bones which we found in their houses they had 
gnawed everything that could be gnawed, so that 
nothing remained of them but what was too tough to 
be eaten ; in one of the houses we found the neck of 
a man undergoing the process of cooking in a pot. 
When they take any boys prisoners they dismember 
them and make use of them until they grow up to 
manhood, and then when they wish to make a feast 
they kill and eat them, for they say that the flesh of 
boys and women is not good to eat. Three of these 
boys came fleeing to us thus mutilated."^ 

Now let us see what there is arotuid the houses of 
this strange village. Here are domesticated geese, 
possibly ducks, not unlike those of Europe ; and par- 
rots as large as the common fowl and of the most 
striking contrasts of brilliant plumage — the blue, 
green, and scarlet being illuminated with the lightest 
shades, even to white. Here may also be some of those 
dogs more or less common to the islands throughout, 
"of various colors," some of them ''like large house 
dogs," some of them like " beagles," but none of them 

1 Syllacius says, " It is their custom to dismember the male children and 
young slaves whom they capture, and fatten them like capons. They feed 
with greater care those that are thin of flesh and emaciated, as we do 
wethers." 



KITCHEN MIDDENS. 



185 



able to bark. But here is something — probably in the 
rude cottage garden — at once fragrant, curious to the 
eye, and delicious to the taste — the pineapple. 

Syllacius says, '' Hares, serpents, and lizards of 
monstrous size are produced in this island. There 
are also dogs which do not bark, and are not subject 
to canine madness. They divide these at the spine, 
and, after roasting them slightl}^, satisfy their hunger 
with them when human flesh cannot be obtained. 
They have birds of various kinds, among these a pro- 
digious number of parrots." 

In one house they find what seems to be an iron pot, 
since thought to have been made of a peculiar stone, 
as iron was not found in that region. But here is a 
curiosity among savages — the stern-post of a vessel ! 
This must have drifted across the ocean from some 
civilized country. Perhaps it is a part of the wreck of 
the Santa Maria. Now all stand aghast at the sight 
of a pile of human bones — probably the remains of 
mau}^ an unnatural repast. 

The fleet now moved on some six miles, and anchored 
in another harbor. The island, some seventy miles 
long, consisted of magnificent mountains and fertile 
plains. Small towns were found here and there along 
the coast, but the inhabitants had fled in terror at the 
sight of the sails. Those who landed succeeded, how- 
ever, in taking a number of women and several small 
boys, all captives, who were glad of an opportunit}' to 
escape, and were not only greatly relieved but delighted 
when they were given to understand that these remark- 
able strangers w^ere opposed to eating human beings. 
" During the seven days that the Spaniards remained 



l86 STORY OF THE CAPTIVES. 

in this island," says Syllacins, " many fugitives and 
female captives from the Caribs sought refuge in the 
ships. These being received with humanity and lib- 
erally supplied with food concluded that the gods 
had come for their deliverance. When they were 
advised by the Spaniards to return to the Caribs, they 
threw themselves at their feet as suppliants, and some 
clasped their arms round the masts, entreating, with 
floods of tears, that the}^ should not be driven awa}?- to 
fall again into the hands of the Caribs, to be butchered 
like sheep." From these captives, through their inter- 
preters, the Spaniards succeeded in drawing out quite 
a little information about the islands. It soon 
became apparent that several of the more important 
of them were in league, and that they made war upon 
the remaining islands in their vicinity. They would 
even venture out on the sea in their canoes, made of 
hollowed-out trunks of trees, to the distance of a hun- 
dred and fifty leagues. They were very expert with 
the bow and arrow, the latter being not only tipped 
with bone or some other hard substance, but also 
charged with the juice of poisonous herbs. 

Many, indeed, were the startling facts which their 
much-relieved captives had succeeded in communicat- 
ing. And now great was their alarm, at night, to 
find that one of the captains and eight men were 
missing. Straying away without permission, they had 
become bewildered and lost in the dense tangled woods. 
Early the next morning the Admiral sent out parties 
in various directions to blow their trumpets and scour 
the woods, while guns and arquebuses v/ere fired from 
the ships along the shore ; but those sent out returned 



CAR IB WOMEN. 187 

at night without sight or sound of the lost. And 
what shocking spectacles they had witnessed ! — limbs 
of human bodies hung up in the houses, as if curing 
for provision ; the head of a youth, so recently severed 
from the body that the blood Avas yet dripping from it, 
and parts of his body were roasting before the iire, 
along with the savor}' flesh of geese and parrots. 

During the da}^ several natives had been gazing on 
the boats in the distance, but the}' fled w^hen they were 
approached. x\lso some captive women appealed to 
them for protection. These they decked, out with 
hawk's bells and beads, and sent them back to the 
shore, hoping to entice the men. But they soon 
returned, stripped of their ornaments, and begged to 
be taken on board. Interviewing these they learned 
that the chief was now away in search of victims, hav- 
ing with him ten canoes and some three hundred men. 
Meanwhile, the women, who could handle the bow 
nearly as well as the men, were left in defence of the 
islands. Dr. Chanca wrote, "We were enabled to 
distinguish which of the women were natives and 
which were captives by the Caribbees wearing on 
each leg two bands of woven cotton, the one fastened 
round the knee and the other round the ankle; by 
this means they make the calves of their legs large 
and the above-mentioned parts very small, which I 
imagine that they regard as a matter of prettiuess." 

But what was to be done for the missing? Alonzo 
de Ojeda, always ready for some daring adventure, 
offered his services. With forty men, he undertook 
to search the island. They went a long distance into 
the interior, blew trumpets in the valleys and on the 



1 88 A CHARMING COUNTRY. 

mountains, waded many streams, tore their way 
through almost impenetrable tangles of briers and 
bushes, but could find no trace of the lost. 

But the countr\' ! — its fertility, the aromatic trees 
and shrubs ; the bright flowers, of every form and 
hue ; the fruits, at once beautiful, fragrant, and luscious ; 
and the birds, the brilliant plumage of which had the 
lustre of gems in the sun. Even the butterflies and 
beetles, so large and so resplendent, must have 
charmed them. And what quantities of honey they 
had found, both in hollow trees and in clefts of rocks ! 

As the crews had now taken in water, washed their 
clothes, and recreated themselves along the shore, the 
fleet was ordered to sail. At the last moment, the 
missing men arrived, in the most pitiable state of 
exhaustion. In their bewildered wanderings, the}^ 
had scaled rocks, waded streams, torn their way 
through briers and tangled vines, climbed trees in 
fruitless effort to see the stars and so find their posi- 
tion as they were accustomed to do at sea, and traversed 
forests so dense that they were almost dark at midda}- . 
Finall}^ reaching the shore, they had happened to go 
in the direction of the ships. Native women and bo3'S 
the}' had brought, but had seen no men. 

The Indians kept telling Columbus that the mainland 
was to the south, but he, having La Navidadimmediatel}^ 
in view, sailed to the northwest. Through a continuous 
archipelago of the most enchanting islands the fleet 
passed, the Admiral giving a name to each as they 
went along. 

On the 14th, as the weather became threatening, he 
made harbor in an island called Ayay by the natives. 



A FIGHT WITH THE CARIBS. 



189 



but which he named Santa Cruz. They were still 
among the ferocious Caribs. The boat which landed 
found, as usual, a village without men, and most of the 
\vomen and boj^s which they took to the ships w^ere 
captives, taken by these warriors in their usual way. 
Meanwhile, a canoe has come round a point, and, ap- 
proaching the ships, the men and two women gaze in 
astonishment at the fleet — a group of huge figures 
which must have been novel indeed to them. A boat 
steals hard upon them before they are aware of it. 
They attempt to escape, plying their paddles like 
witches, but the boat cuts off their retreat. The 
natives seize their bows, and the arrows come whizzing 
so closely that the Spaniards shield themselves with 
their bucklers. The women are as fierce and take as 
close aim as the men, one of them sending an arrow 
clear through a buckler and wounding a Spaniard. 
Seeing that several of their men are wounded, the 
Spaniards run their boat into the broadside of the 
canoe and upset it. But these Caribs can fight about 
as well in water as in their canoe ; and one Spaniard 
feels the deadly wound of a poisoned arrow, sent by one 
of the women, and afterwards dies in consequence. 

" At last,'' says Syllacius, " they were captured and 
taken to the Admiral. One of them was pierced through 
in seven places, and his intestines protruded from his 
wounds. Since it was believed that he could not be 
healed, he was thrown into the sea ; but emerging to 
the surface, with one foot upraised and with his left 
hand holding his intestines in their place, he swam 
courageously toward the shore. This caused great 
alarm to the Indians who were brought along as inter- 



jgo ^ SAVAGE HERO. 

preters, for they dreaded that the cunning Caribs, 
taking to flight, would contrive some more savage 
schemes of vengeance. They accordingly persisted 
obstinately in maintaining the opinion that those who 
were caught should be put out of the way. The Carib 
was therefore recaptured near the shore, bound hand 
and foot more tightly, and again thrown headlong into 
the sea. This resolute barbarian swam still more 
eagerly towards the shore, till, pierced with many 
arrows, he at length expired. Scarcely had this been 
done, when the Caribs came running to the shores in 
great numbers — a horrible sight. They were of a dark 
color, fierce aspect, stained with red interspersed with 
various colors, for the purpose of increasing the ferocity 
of their looks. One side of their heads was shorn, the 
other side covered with straight black hair hanging 
down at full length. From these also many captives 
fled to the ships, as it were to the altars of safety, com- 
plaining loudly of the cruelty and ferocity of the 
Caribs." 

Peter Martyr can scarcely deliver himself of the sen- 
sations of horror at the sight of these Caribs when 
brought to Spain. Tall of stature, frowning and defiant 
in countenance ; their long, coarse hair ; circles of paint 
around the eyes ; bands of cotton above and below the 
muscles of the arms and legs, causing them to swell — 
all rendered them most hideous and terrifying. They 
were, however, a brave race, the mothers teaching their 
children to use the bow and arrow while scarcely more 
than infants. Their hardy, roaming life developed 
their intelligence ; and while the neighboring tribes 
could measure time only by the days and nights and 



CONVERTED INDIANS. i^i 

the sun and moon, tliey could make a fair attempt at 
calculating times and seasons by the stars. 

But enough of the Caribs. The fleet moved on past 
Santa Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins till it 
reached Porto Rico, which was the home of most of the 
captives taking refuge with the Spaniards. On the 
west end the}^ found a fine harbor, abounding in fish. 
Here was a native village, with a public square, a main 
road, a terrace — all in all, quite an artistic, home-like 
place. But every soul had fled — everything was silent 
as death. 

Columbus is nearing Hayti and is anxious for his 
garrison at the fort. As the fleet passes along the 
north side of the island, they barely touch in a few 
places. Once a boat is sent ashore with two caravels to 
guard it, v/hile the sailor is buried who died from the 
poisoned arrow of the Caribs. On reaching the Gulf 
of Samana, where the affray with the arrows occurred 
on the previous voyage, Columbus sent ashore one of 
the young men taken from thence to Spain. This and 
one other were the only natives left of the seven who 
had left Spain with the fleet, five having died on the 
way. He was finely dressed and highly ornamented. 
The Admiral expected much from this attractively 
attired convert to the Christian faith, and the youth 
had made many fair promises, but he never returned. 
The Lucayan, named Diego Colon at his baptism, after 
the Admiral's brother, became a very efficient interpreter 
of the natives, and remained faithful to the Spaniards 
till death. 

In the harbor of Monte Christi, at the mouth of the 
River of Gold — so named because gold had been found 



ig2 J^^ NAVIDAD. 

in its sands on tlie previous voyage — the fleet anchors 
again, the Admiral having some thought of a settle- 
ment here. As the crews stroll along the shore and 
into the woods, the}^ find several decaying bodies, " one 
with a rope round his neck, and the other with one 
round his foot." " On the following day they found 
two other corpses farther on, and one of these was 
observed to have a great quantity of beard" (Chanca). 
Here are indications which awaken fears for the gar- 
rison at La Navidad. 

But why do these natives come on board the ships 
for traf&c with so much confidence ? Surely they can- 
not be guilty of murdering the white men. The night 
has settled down and left a mere outline of the moun- 
tains against the sky when the fleet reaches the harbor 
of La Navidad, so the anchors are dropped about a 
league from land. Two cannon are fired. Every 
ear listens for a response from the guns on the fortress, 
but hears only the echo as it rolls along the shore. 
They strain their eyes for some signal-light, but all is 
darkness and silence. Where are the fires of the na- 
tives which gleamed through the forest in every 
direction when Columbus was here before ? 

The hours drag on slowly, for ever}^ one is in sus- 
pense. At midnight they hear the paddles of a canoe 
approaching. Listen ! the paddles cease and a voice 
is calling — calling for the Admiral. The natives are 
directed to the flag-ship, but will not come on board 
till they are assiired by the person of the Admiral, 
made clear in a strong light. One of them is a cousin 
of the good cacique Guacanagari, and, coming on 
board, he presents to the Admiral two masks, " gilt- 
edged " as usual. 



DESOLATION OF THE HARBOR. 193 

But to the story of the fort. Columbus must know 
what is become of his men. They depend on the La- 
cayan interpreter, and he cannot understand these 
Haytians very well, the dialect being somewhat differ- 
ent. If these latter are rather reticent at first, a liberal 
supply of wine at the repast given them makes them 
quite communicative, and by and by a fairly connected 
story is elicited. Some of the men at the fort had 
sickened and died. Others had quarrelled among 
themselves. Others had gone away into the island 
and taken wives. Caonabo, the mountain cacique, had 
attacked Guacanagari, had wounded him and burnt 
his village. Hence it was that the friendly chief was 
not present to welcome him. 

This narration of facts was sad enough, but it re- 
lieved the Admiral of suspense and left him the 
hope of still finding some of his men in the island. 
At any rate, Guacanagari had been faithful, and his 
people were still friendly. 

When the next morning dawned Columbus was 
impressed with the changed aspect of the place. The 
year before, every part of the island teemed with life. 
Here and there the smoke of the hamlet ascended. 
The natives swarmed along the shore. Canoes were 
coming and going about the harbor. Now there was 
simply desolation and silence. A boat was sent ashore 
to examine the fort, and the explorers found that the 
evidences confirmed their fears. Everything was in 
ruins. Here and there were fragments of chests, 
spoiled provisions, and weather-worn garments. Yon- 
der lurked several Indians behind the trees, closely 
eyeing every movement. The Admiral, distressed at 



194 



SB A RCH ABOUT THE FOR T. 



tHs report, came ashore himself the following morn- 
ing. He made the closest search among the ruins and 
around for some distance, finding broken utensils and 
shreds of garments among the grass and weeds. Ar- 
quebuses and cannon, fired from the fleet, thundered 
along the shore, in order to arouse any of the garrison 
who might be hiding away in the neighborhood, but 
there was no response. They now explored the site 
of Guacanagari's village, and found only charred 
ruins. As Columbus had ordered the officers of La 
Navidad to bury what treasure they might have, or 
throw it into the well in case of sudden danger, they 
excavated at various points and cleaned out the ditch 
and the well, but nothing could be found. While all 
this was in progress the Admiral took the boats along 
the shore, partly to extend the search and partly to 
find a better site for his settlement. About three 
leagues distant was a hamlet which evidently had been 
abandoned in haste. The houses^ — almost overgrown 
with grass and weeds — and the grass and weeds for a 
long distance around were thoroughly searched. Here 
were stockings, pieces of cloth, the anchor of the 
Santa Maria, and a beautiful Moorish robe carefully 
folded as when brought from Spain. Meanwhile, not 
far from the fortress, some of the men dug out here 
and there, from under the grass, eleven bodies, 
evidently in European clothing. These they gave a 
formal Christian burial. 

1 Dr. Chanca says, concerning this village : " These people are so 
degraded that they have not even sense to select a fitting place to live; those 
who dwell on the shore build for themselves the most miserable hovels that 
can be imagined, and all the houses are so covered with grass and dampness 
that I wonder how they can continue to exist." — R. H. Major's " Select 
Letters" p. J2. 



DESTRUCTION OF THE GARRISON. 195 

By and by they succeeded in gaining the confidence 
of a few natives, and the Lacayan interpreter drew 
enough out of them so that a pretty clean thread of 
narrative of the events sought after was traced. At 
the departure of Columbus, all his good instructions 
had been disregarded b}^ the men under Arana. They 
coveted the gold ornaments and other items of value 
among the natives, and resorted to violence in order to 
obtain them. The}' quarrelled with one another, and 
the under officers had rebelled against Arana. Not- 
withstanding Guacanagari's indulgence of two or more 
wives to a man, they had outraged the wives and 
daughters of the Indians. They had roamed at will 
about the island, as if in perfect safety. The tv/o 
lieutenants, Gutierrez and Kscobado, not being able to 
rule over Arana, had seceded with nine adherents and 
gone away into Cibao after gold. Here, Caonabo, the 
Carib adventurer who had become cacique of the 
mountain regions, and was called " Lord of the Golden 
House," soon put them to death. He had watched 
the intruders with a jealous ej^e from his mountain 
fastness, and now improved his opportunity. Form- 
ing an alliance with a neighboring chief, he stole the 
march upon Guacanagari and La Navidad while the 
latter contained but ten men and they fast asleep. 
He completely sacked the fortress and the entire neigh- 
borhood, wounding the cacique with his own hand. 
Not only those of the garrison who were within the 
stockade, but all the Spaniards quartered among the 
Indians in the vicinit}^, were sought out and put to 
death. A few who tried to escape by taking to the 
sea were drowned. 



196 CHARACTER OF THE GARRISON. 

Such is the first chapter in the history of civilized 
life in the New World. Herrera says that the men 
left at La Navidad by Columbus were mostly of the 
baser sort, crude in mind and low in morals. If so — 
and their conduct sustains this view — was not the new 
colony at Hayti about as well off without them ? 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE NEW ENTERPRISES. 






AVING become clearly informed as to the sad 
fate of La Navidad, the location of the new 
colony claimed immediate attention. The 
site of the fortress was abandoned not only because of 
its painful associations, but on account of the un- 
healthfulness of the low, damp countrj^ around it and 
because there was no stone or lime for building. A 
caravel was sent out in one direction, therefore, while 
the Admiral, with a small party, went out in another, 
in order to reconnoitre. When both parties returned, at 
night, the former related a very interesting diversion. 
While they were sailing along the shore a canoe with 
two natives came out to meet them. One of them was 
a brother of Guacanagari. So said a pilot on board, 
who had been on the former voyage. The chieftain 
was residing scarceh^ three leagues away, with fifty 
families around him ; and, as he was suffering from 
his wound, he wished the Admiral to come and see him. 
Dr. Chanca says, " The chief men of the party then 
went on shore in the boat, and, proceeding to the place 
where Guacanagari was, found him stretched on his 
bed, complaining of a severe wound. They conferred 
with him and inquired respecting the Spaniards ; his 
reply was in accordance w^th the account already 
given b}^ the other, viz., that the}^ had been killed by 



198 



MILITAR r D IS PL A T. 



Caonabo and Mayreni, who also liad wounded liim in 
tlie thi^h. In confirmation of his assertion he showed 
them the limb, bound up, on seeing which they con- 
cluded that his statement was correct. At their 
departure he gave to each of them a jewel of gold, 
according to his estimate of their respective merits. 
The Indians beat the gold into very thin plates, in 
order to make masks of it, and set it in a cement which 
they make for that purpose. Other ornaments they 
make of it to wear on the head and to hang in the ears 
and nostrils, and for these also they require it to be 
thin. It is not the costliness of the gold that they 
value in their ornaments, but its showy appearance." 

The next day Columbus prepared to visit the cacique, 
whose brother called on him and again urged him to 
come before he could get under way. It would be well 
to make as great an impression as possible of the 
power and magnificence of the Spaniards. The Ad- 
miral and his train of a hundred of his best men were 
arrayed in the most imposing style, their glittering 
armor and rich attire producing a most unwonted effect 
in this new world of simple ways. " With pipers and 
drummers arranged in order, and line of battle formed, 
they march to the residence of the cacique." The 
chief was still reclining in his cotton hammock, sur- 
rounded by his wives and his faithful subjects. Again 
he related the tragedy of the garrison, shedding tears 
most freely and assuring his listeners of the perilous 
part he had taken in their defence. Here, too, were the 
proofs as he pointed them out — scars on the bodies of 
his people, evidently made by Indian weapons. 

But this generous cacique would not be himself 



EXCHANGE OF PRESENTS. 



199 



without presents ; so he gives six hundred or upwards 
of precious stones and jewels of various colors, a cap 




MANNER OF NURSING THE SICK. 



elaborately ornamented with jewels and containing one 
of special fine effect and value, a hundred gold beads, 
a gold coronet, and two calabashes filled with the precious 
dust — the gold, in all, being equal to eight marks and 
a half. What in return ? Glass beads and hawk's 
bells, of course ; also knives, needles, pins, small 
mirrors and various gew-gaws of copper — the latter far 
more valuable than gold in the ej^es of the natives. 
Some say that Columbus also decorated the chief with 
his own inner vest or doublet, magnificently embroid- 
ered and variegated with the most brilliant colors, in 
Moorish style. 

But the Admiral wished to see Guacanagari's 
wound, his surgeon and Dr. Chanca — both present — 
being skilful in the treatment of such cases. The 



200 G UIL TT OR NOT G UIL TT ? 

chief consented. As tlie crowd of people darkened 
the wigwam, the doctor proposed to go out into the 
light, which was accorded by the chieftain, leaning on 
the arm of the Admiral. When the former was seated 
and the surgeon began to untie the bandage, the 
cacique said the wound was made by a stone. "It is 
certain," says the doctor " that there was no more wound 
on that leg than on the other ;" but it seemed sore to 
the touch. As nearly two months had elapsed since 
the disaster, the bruise may have disappeared exter- 
nally, while the deeper effect of the rough missile at 
least partially remained. Some of those present 
could see nothing but a hoax in the whole matter. 
The cacique was feigning all this in order to conceal 
the guilty part he had taken in the massacre. 
Father Buil, the Benedictine monk, especially, could 
afford no charit}^ whatever. The Admiral should 
make an example of the perfidious wretch at once. 
But Columbus had seen too much of the kindness of 
this great-hearted man to doubt him now, unless there 
was clear and unmistakable evidence against him. He 
would therefore suspend judgment until further dis- 
closures. It would be soon enough to claim indemni- 
fication when a guilty complicity in the massacre was 
certain. No ; the Admiral will be cordial. Calling his 
interpreter, he explains the object of his voyage. He 
visits these distant parts in order to improve the 
inhabitants, making them kind to each other by teach- 
ing them what is good. He will lead them to give up 
all bad practices, that they may be under the protec- 
tion of the Spanish monarchs, the best and most pow- 
erful rulers in the world. And to Guacanagari, his inti- 



G CTA CANA GARPS ASTONISHMENT. 201 

mate friend and ally, he will grant special protection. 
These words brought the chieftain to his feet. Stamp- 
ing on the ground and raising his eyes to heaven, he 
gave a loud shout, to which the six hundred Indians 
around him responded in a " tremendous acclamation." 
At this the one hundred Spaniards in light armor were 
so startled that they involuntarily grasped the hilts of 
their swords, thinking that a battle with these savages 
might be just at hand. 

Columbus invited Guacanagari to his ship that same 
night, and, though he still seemed to be suffering from 
his wound, he ventured to gratify his curiosity. If 
the two small caravels of the previous year's visit had 
surprised him, what must have been his astonishment 
on beholding this fleet of seventeen sail riding at 
anchor in the harbor. As he approached he was 
startled b}^ the roll of drums, the striking of cymbals, 
and the lightning and thunder of cannon. On board- 
ing the Admiral's ship he saw the Carib prisoners, 
who belonged to the cannibals of Buriquen. Peter 
Martyr thinks he shuddered at the sight of them even 
in chains. 

It must have been no small pleasure to the Admiral 
to escort his savage friend, so full of curiosity, through 
the different ships, and witness his amazement on see- 
ing the different parts of their structure, also the plants 
and fruits of the Old World, but more especially the 
animals — cattle sheep, swine — and the horses ! — what 
magnitude, grace, and strength, and yet what submissive 
docility, they showed. Whether the fleet horse for the 
race-course or the strong one for armor, their fine con- 
dition, highly polished harnesses, and gay trappings 



202 GODS OR DEVILS? 

gave tliem a grand aspect. Then did not the Indians 
suspect that these strange animals lived on human 
flesh ? 

With this wonderful variety of useful creatures, our 
domestic animals, the cacique had nothing to compare 
but the small coney-like 2itia and a limited variety of 
dumb dogs. Over against the domestic fowls the chief 
might place the tame parrots, and possibh' some kind 
of geese or ducks ; but it is doubtful if he had ever seen 
the hen which lays the golden egg. Imagine the ele- 
vation of mind which this chieftain must now have ex- 
perienced, believing, as he did, that all these wonderful 
things — ships, animals, and men — had just come from 
heaven ! " The Europeans had no sooner entered on 
this vast continent and the islands about it," says Las 
Casas, "but the natives showed them all imaginable 
kindness and respect, and were ready to worship them 
as gods; but these soon took care to convince them of 
their error, and to deliver them from the danger of fall- 
ing into this sort of idolatry, by treating them with all 
manner of cruelties and tormenting them like so many 
devils ; so that these barbarous people received as great 
a turn in their thoughts concerning the Spaniards as 
the barbarians of the island of Mileta did in respect of 
St. Paul ; for as these believed him to be a god whom 
the}^ had just before taken for a murderer, so the other 
really found them to be murderers whom they had a 
little before esteemed as so many gods.'' But more 
light on this by and by. 

The cacique now descends from heavenly things to 
those which are more earthly. The ten captive women 
taken from the Caribs appeal to his amorous tempera- 



ALIENATION. 203 

ment. Though his dialect is somewhat different from 
theirs, they can readily understand each other. How 
tenderly he communes with that tall, stately beauty, 
whom the Spaniards, in admiration, have named Cat- 
alina. For, though escaped from the dreaded Caribs, is 
she not still a captive? 

Now the Admiral and the chieftain dine together. 
Surely in this cordial act of hospitalit}', if in any way, 
old confidence and friendships may be revived. The 
Admiral talks of coming to live with the cacique, of 
building houses in the neighborhood, etc., etc. The 
cacique is pleased with the plan, but is not the place 
very low and damp and decidedly unhealthy ? Alas ! 
no demonstration of cordiality can restore the ease and 
delightful charm of the former intercourse. Were these 
indeed heavenly visitors ? What about that covetous, 
quarrelling, licentious garrison just laid among the 
dead ? Loss of confidence — alienation — how destruc- 
tive, how demoniacal the influence ! Even the symbols 
of the Christian faith, to which these natives seemed 
readily inclined, have become objects of suspicion. The 
chief is not at all pleased to have that image of the 
Virgin hung about his neck by the Admiral ! 

Meanwhile, not a few of these gallant men and high 
dignitaries among the Spaniards were regarding 
Guacanagari with an evil eye. Father Buil especiall}^ 
was not particularly under the influence of that charity 
which " hopeth all things " and which " thinketh no 
evil." Speaking to the Admiral a little aside, he sug- 
gested the propriety of detaining the cacique as a prisoner 
now that he was on board ship. But such treacherous- 
ness and bad faith found no response from Columbus. 



204 SEA-NYMPHS. 

The face mirrors the soul even to the eye of a savage. 
Guacanagari felt ill afhome amidst such obvious feel- 
ings of mistrust and suspicion, and soon begged leave 
to depart. 

The next day there occurred that obscure and double 
line of movement which generally follows the loss of 
good faith even among those who are civilized. A 
messenger came from the cacique to inquire when the 
Admiral would leave. The next day, was the reply. 
Then came a brother of the chieftain, along with others, 
ostensibly to barter gold ; but he seemed quite as much 
interested in conversing with the captive women as in 
trade. Catalina especially attracted his attention. By 
and by he left. About midnight a light appeared on 
the shore. All were now sleeping soundly except a 
single watch, and so stealthily did the Indian women 
let themselves down the side of the ship that they 
were able to get away before the alarm could be given. 
Like so many sea-nymphs, they struck out for the 
shore ; and, though the sea was rough, they made the 
full three miles to land before they could be overtaken. 
Pursuing in the direction of the beacon-light, the men 
captured four of the fugitives ; the rest, including the 
stately Catalina, made good their escape. 

The next morning the iVdmiral sent to Guacanagari, 
asking him to cause search to be made for the fugi- 
tives, and, in case they could be found, to send them 
back to the ships. But lo ! when the}^ arrived, " not a 
soul " could be found. There had been a complete 
removal of the village. The chieftain and his island 
beauty were probably their taking " honeymoon " in the 
mountains. This was only one more item to feed the 



A WOUNDED NATIVE. 205 

suspicion of Father Buil and his colleagues. Scarcely 
anything was now too bad to be believed of the kind- 
hearted chief. But Columbus still held to his good 
opinion of him. 

'' On the next morning," says Dr. Chanca, " the Ad- 
miral resolved that, as the wind was adverse, it would 
be well to go with the boats to inspect a harbor on the 
coast at two leagues distance farther up,^ to see if the 
formation of the land was favorable for a settlement, 
and we went thither with all the ships' boats, leaving 
the ships in the harbor. As we moved along the coast 
the people manifested a sense of insecurity, and when 
w^e reached the spot to which we were bound all the 
natives had fled. While we were walking about this 
place we found an Indian stretched on the hill-side, 
close by the houses, with a gaping wound in his 
shoulder, caused by a dart, so that he had been disabled 
from fleeing any further. The natives of this island 
fight with sharp darts, which they discharge from 
cross-bows in the same manner as boys in Spain shoot 
their small arrows, and which they send with con- 
siderable skill to a great distance ; and certainly upon 
an unarmed people these weapons are calculated to do 
serious injury. The man told us that Caonabo and his 
people had wounded him and burnt the houses of Gua- 
canagari." 

It is strange that the Spaniards should have con- 
tinued in uncertainty as to the course and manner of 
the death of the garrison when so many different par- 
ties testified essentially to the same thing. 

Melchor Maldonado had been in the opposite direc- 

^ Port Dauphin. 



2o6 LANDING THE COLONT. 

tion, to the eastward, and, coming into the dominions 
of another caciqtie, who at first threatened him, at the 
head of his warriors, bnt was soon conciliated, learned 
that Guacanagari had indeed gone to the mountains. 

All this exploring had simply convinced Columbus 
that the low, damp country along the coast would be 
too unhealthy for his colony, and that the absence of 
stone would be a serious hindrance to building. But 
there was pressing need of an immediate landing. 
The people were weary of the ships, and the long con- 
finement was telling heavily on the domestic animals. 
Columbus determined, therefore, to go some distance 
to the eastward, especially since he "had tidings of 
gold in that direction." On the 7th of December the 
fleet weighed anchor. " But the weather was so ad- 
verse," says Dr. Chanca, " that it cost more labor to 
sail thirty leagues in a backward direction than the 
whole voyage from Spain, so that, what with the con- 
trary wind and the length of the passage, three months 
had elapsed before we set foot on land. It pleased 
God, however, that through the check upon our 
progress caused by contrary winds we succeeded in 
finding the best and most suitable spot that we could 
have selected for a settlement, where there was an 
excellent harbor^ and abundance of fish, an article of 
which we stood in great need from scarcity of meat. 

"The land is very rich for all purposes. Near the 
harbor there are two rivers ; one large, and another, of 
moderate breadth, somewhat near it. The water is 
of a very remarkable quality. On the bank of it is 
being built a city, called Marta (Isabella), one side of 

1 Port Isabella, ten miles east of Monte Christi. 



THE NATIVES BRING FOOD. 207 

which is bounded by the water, with a ravine of cleft 
rock, so that at that part there is no need of fortifica- 
tion ; the other half is girt with a plantation of trees, 
so thick that a rabbit could scarcely pass through it, 
and so green that fire will never be able to burn it. A 
channel has been commenced for a branch of the river, 
which the managers say they will lead through the 
middle of the settlement, and will place on it mills of 
all kinds requiring to be worked by water. Great 
quantities of vegetables have been planted, which cer- 
tainly attain a more luxuriant growth here in eight 
da^^s than they would in Spain in twenty. We were 
frequently visited by numbers of Indians, among 
whom were some of their caciques, or chiefs, and many 
women. They all came loaded with agis^ a sort of 
turnip, very excellent for food, which we dressed in 
various ways. This food was so nutritious as to prove 
a great support to all of us, after the privations we en- 
dured when at sea, which in truth were more severe 
than ever were suffered by man, and as we could not 
tell what weather it would please God to send us on 
our voyage, we were obliged to limit ourselves most 
rigorously with regard to food, in order that, at all 
events, we might at least have the means of supplying 
life. 

" The Indians barter gold, provisions, and every- 
thing they bring with them for tags of lace, beads and 
pins, and pieces of porringers and dishes. They all, 
as I have said, go naked as they were born, except the 
women of this island, who, some of them, wear a cover- 
ing of cotton, which they bind around their hips, while 



2o8 THE LANDING. 

others use grass and leaves of trees. When they wish 
to appear full dressed, both men and women paint 
themselves, some black, others white and various 
colors, in so many devices that the effect is very 
laughable ; they shave some parts of their heads, and 
in others wear long tufts of matted hair, which have 
an indescribably ridiculous appearance ; in short, 
whatever would be looked upon in our country as 
characteristic of a madman is here regarded by the 
highest of the Indians as a mark of distinction." 

The site of the first Christian cit}^ in the New World 
being thus determined, the disembarkation began. 
Imagine the busy, bustling scene, as some 1,500 people, 
pent upon shipboard for about three months, crowd 
the gangways out onto this delightsome spot of green 
earth. The common laborer, the skilled artisan, the 
cavalier, the priest — all classes of the active kingdom 
of Spain in that day were here rejoicing in the free- 
dom and the charming novelty of the hour. Not less 
interesting must it have been to witness the happy 
liberation of the domestic animals, which had suffered 
so severely from the long and unwonted confinement. 
We imagine they must have looked somewhat lean and 
gaunt. The dark holes in ships for so long a time 
could not have furnished the conditions for a very 
thrifty appearance. 

But what a houseless, homeless state of things ! 
Ah ! it is not all romance for such numbers of men and 
beasts to be dumped out into a wilderness, without 
proper enclosures for the latter or convenient shelter 
for the former. Let not these gay cavaliers be too much 
allured by the exuberance of tropical verdure around 



THE NE W TO WN. 209 

them, by the mingling of fruit and flowers and the 
nesting and singing of birds in mid-winter. The 
bright stars above this torrid zone will look down upon a 
land reeking with miasmas and fevers. 

For some time to come this glassy sheet of water 
constituting the broad harbor will mirror an active 
scene. Long confinement has made every one alert 
for the greatest activity. Engineers project the pub- 
lic square and the streets, and masons and carpenters 
make the atmosphere resound to their enterprises. 
Farmers and gardeners begin to break the soil for 
orchards and all kinds of husbandry, and a general 
enthusiasm prevails. The walls of the church, the 
public storehouse, and the Admiral's residence are ris- 
ing — all of stone, and a whole town of cheap, tempo- 
rary residences of wood, plaster, coarse reeds, etc., 
come up almost as quickh^ as Jonah's gourd. Mere 
extemporized tenements will do for the present ; more 
solid structures can replace them by and by. But if 
those more solid stru.ctures were ever reared, they 
have long since disappeared, for the ruins of the 
church, storehouse, and Admiral's residence are all 
that remains of the long-since abandoned city of Isa- 
bella. 

The stern realities of pioneer life in an untried 
climate soon became apparent. Long confinement, 
sea-sickness, spoilt meat, and mould}^ bread were a 
poor preparation for the exposures of a life, without 
houses, amidst the moisture and exhalations of dense 
forests, lowlands, and slow-moving rivers, in a tropical 
climate. Exhaustive labor on the part of those unac- 
customed to it and used only to recreations in an old 



2IO THE DISAPPOINTMENT. 

and highly cultivated country soon produced the 
most depressing effects. 

*' The maladies of the mind mingled with those of 
the body." The severest disappointment — than which 
nothing is more depressing — was the inevitable conse- 
quence of that delusion which possessed every mind 
in respect to this newly discovered country. The 
gallant soldier fresh from the Moorish wars, and antici- 
pating rich conquests in the incomparably wealthy 
territories of the Grand Khan, found himself in a 
" forest primeval," swarming with naked savages of 
the most timid character. Nowhere was there a foe 
" worthy of his steel. "^ The speculator, who had laid 
in his stock for trade in the land of gold and spices, 
experienced a dull and unprofitable routine in dicker- 
ing with destitute savages, giving beads, hawk's bells, 
and gew-gaws generally for crude cotton yarn, par- 
rots, and occasional bits of gold. The idle and indefi- 
nite adventurer found himself absolutely without an 
aim. All classes of laborers an.d artisans were obliged 
to take things in the rough and to " rough it " in the 
most literal sense. " One-third of our people have 
fallen sick within the last four or five days," sa3^s Dr. 
Chanca. This statement discloses something of the 
kind of hospital which this new city of Isabella must 
have been turned into in a short time. The Admiral 
himself, overcome by the exertion, anxiety, and 
immense sense of responsibility incident to his situa- 

i"The weapons they used," says Las Casas, " were neither capable of 
defending them, nor of offending their enemies to any purpose, and were 
more like those that children use to play with than such as are fit for soldiers 
to use in war." 



THE DISAPPOINTMENT. 211 

tioii, became prostrate, and could only give occasional 
attention to the arduous and critical enterprises of the 
hour. 

The problems now confronting Columbus were the 
most difficult possible. The first and most pressing 
necessity was the relief of his colony. From the out- 
set the store of provisions laid in had been inadequate 
to the number of people ; and as the wines were put 
into poor casks, much of it was lost ; the beef and pork 
were not siich as they should have been, and the 
horses accepted for the use of the colony seem after- 
wards to have been exchanged on the sly by the 
venders for others which were inferior. The great 
extent of sickness incident to the long voyage and 
the change of climate had well-nigh exhausted the 
medicines. Here w^ere over a thousand people in the 
wilderness without even " manna " to quell their mur- 
murings. Neither could they supplement their scanty 
fare by means of " snakes and liicards and spiders 
and worms " picked out of rotten wood, after the 
manner of the natives. 

If these people had possessed the genuine moral 
principles and noble purposes which bore up the pil- 
grims of the Mayflower during the snow and ice, 
sickness and death of their first New England winter, 
the case had, no doubt, been different ; but here was a 
heterogeneous community, wdth but mixed and grovel- 
ing motives at best, and, not even knowing in what 
part of the globe they were, they had no manner of 
conception of the nature of the enterprise before them. 
Now place a foreigner over such a community and 
under such circumstances, himself without experience 



212 PROSPECTS OF GOLD. 

in governing and not even knowing the circumstances, 
and say if it would not need an extraordinary miracle 
to secure order and prosperit3\ 

To govern and develop this first colony in the New 
World would have been quite enough for any one man, 
even if he had been well trained and experienced in 
the work before him and was possessed of high pres- 
tige in his nation, but this was only a fraction of what 
was expected of Columbus. He was to bring forth- 
with into Spain the fabulous wealth of the Indies, 
such quantities of spices and gold^ as would load ships 
of immense tonnage. As to spices, they had indeed 
found even on " the sea-shore " " some spots showing 
so many indications of various spices as naturally to 
suggest the hope of the best results for the future," 
but it would require experts, capital, and time even to 
test the matter. Gold he had expected to find read}'- 
to hand in large quantities, amassed by his garrison 
against his return ; and, over against his disappoint- 
ment, he had set on foot an exploring expedition, of 
two different parties — the dashing, daring Ojeda in one 
direction and Gorbolan in another. These had brought 
back very promising samples and the most glowing re- 
ports — " things that appeared incredible," " and boasted 
so much of the abundance of gold" that Columbus felt 
" a hesitation in speaking and writing of it to their 
Highnesses." On this point Dr. Chanca was about as 
enthusiastic as Columbus. He says, " The party that 

^About this time it was reported " that a rock adjacent to a mountain 
being struck with a club, a large quantity of gold burst out, and particles of 
gold of indescribable brightness glittered all around like sparks." What 
must have been expected from such a country ! 



HINDRANCES TO MINING. 313 

went to Cibao saw gold in so many places that one 
scarcely dares state the fact, for in truth they found it 
in more than fifty streamlets and rivers, as well as 
upon their banks.'' One nugget found by Ojeda 
weighed nine ounces. This was sent to Spain to be 
admired by such men as Peter Martyr. If the rivers 
rolled down their golden sands, and lumps of the 
precious metal lay on the surface, what might be found 
by thorough and sj^stematic mining to a proper depth? 

But serious difficulties were to be overcome before 
the Spanish ships could be loaded with the precious 
metal. They needed passable roads, beasts of burden, 
and shelter and protection — a fortress, for instance — in 
the mining regions. But the greatest embarrassment 
was the ill-health of the people. Those sent out in 
good health would probably fall sick on the way. " It 
would be also extremely inconvenient to leave the 
sick men here in the open air," writes the Admiral to 
the sovereigns, " or in huts, with such food and defences 
as they have on shore, although these Indians appear 
every day to be more simple and harmless to those 
who land for the purpose of making investigations. In 
short, although they come every day to visit us, it would 
nevertheless be imprudent to risk the loss of our men 
and our provisions, which might very easily happen, 
if an Indian were only, with a lighted coal, to set fire 
to the huts, for they ramble about both night and day ; 
for this reason we keep sentinels constantly on the 
watch while the dwellings are exposed and unde- 
fended." 

Twelve ships out of the seventeen which had come 
from Spain were waiting in the harbor at a great 



214 THE » memorial:' 

expense ; and the return back of some of them at least 
with supplies for the colony, not later than May, was 
most imperative. They must therefore sail at once, 
even though they contained nothing — beyond the 
tale of disaster concerning La Navidad — but golden 
promises. 

The condition of the new enterprise at this hour is 
best illustrated by the so-called " memorial," drawn 
up by Columbus at Isabella, January 30, 1494. It is 
designed for the sovereigns, but is addressed to Antonio 
de Torres, who was about to command the returning 
fleet. He was, no doubt, to make such running com- 
ments in the presence of the sovereigns as the occa- 
sion might require. This very interesting document is 
in the famous Navarrete collection. In the margin of 
each chapter or item is the reply of the sovereigns, 
the documents thus annotated being returned to 
Columbus. It is given in English in R. H. Major's 
famous " Select Letters," published by the Hakluyt 
Society. 

After the opening formalities, he assures them that, 
while nothing has " occurred to diminish the impor- 
tance" of what he had " formerly written or said to 
their Highnesses," he would soon be able to prove it 
all " by facts." He then refers to the spices found 
along the coast and to the wonderful reports brought 
in by Ojeda and Gorbolan concerning the gold in the 
interior. This being a divine sanction of the great 
enterprise undertaken by their Highnesses, they ought 
to give thanks to God for the same. In the margin 
the sovereigns write, " Their Highnesses return thanks 
to God for all that is recorded^'' etc., etc. 



FORTIFYING THE TOWN. 215 

In the next item Columbus states the reasons for 
not detaining the ships till he might collect a greater 
amount of gold. The people are sick. The ships are 
lying in the harbor at a large expense. The weather 
is favorable to their return. He will need new sup- 
plies by the month of May, and there is no time to 
lose, etc. " He has done well^^'' is the marginal note. 

Again, the gold mines could not be worked without 
greater conveniences^ There must be shelter, pro- 
vision against sickness, defence from Caonabo and his 
merciless savages who luid sacked La Navidad. "i7^ 
has done zuell,'''' is repeated in the margin. 

But the people are improving in health and will 
soon be acclimated. " The small number of those who 
continue well are employed every day in barricading 
our dwelling so as to put it in a state of defence, and 
in taking necessary measures for the safety of our am- 
munition, which will be finished now in a few days, 
for all our fortifications will consist simply of stone 
walls {albarrada — meaning walls without mortar). 
With a little vigilance, small fortifications will do 
against the Indians. This done, he will examine the 
gold-bearing sands of the rivers in the interior, and 
build a town of defence. " This is ivell and exactly as 
he should do^^ is the marginal response. 

The sickness of the colony is in consequence of 
change of climate. Hence they must have the same 
food as formerly at home, fresh supplies of which 
should at once be sent and continued until the same 
could be produced in the new world. The sickness of 
the people and the lean and weak condition of the 
domestic animals had not admitted of a very extensive 



2i6 THE NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE. 

plantation as yet, but such crops as had been tested 
were exceedingly promising, and the country was very 
beautiful. 

The monarchs reply : " Since the land is so fertile^ it 
is desirable to sow of all kinds as much as possible^ and 
Don Juan de Fonsica is instructed to send over immedi- 
ately everything requisite for that purpose.'''' 

The people are in need of wine on account of the 
leakage from bad casks, of biscuits, corn, and par- 
ticularly of raisins, sugar, almonds, honey, and rice. 
There should be a larger stock of domestic animals of 
nearly all kinds. For the freighting of two caravels 
with those things, the gold now sent home should be 
discreetly appropriated, and everything must be expe- 
dited so as to get returns by May. 

Their Highnesses will give instructio7is to Don Juan de 
Fonsica to make immediate inquiry respecting the impo- 
sition in the ^natter of the casks ^ etc.^ the dispatch of the 
business in general.^ etc. 

As the next two items in this " memorial " are 
those concerning which Columbus has been most 
highly censured in more recent times, we will quote 
them in full. 

" Item. You will tell their Highnesses that as we 
have no interpreter through whom we can make these 
people acquainted with our holy faith, as their High- 
nesses and we ourselves desire, and as we will do so soon 
as we are able, we send by these two vessels some of 
these cannibal men and women, as well as some 
children, both male and female, whom their High- 
nesses might order to be placed under the care of the 
most competent persons to teach them the language. 



COL UMB US AND SLA VER T. 



217 



At the same time they might be employed in useful 
occupations, and by degrees, through somewhat more 
care being bestowed upon them than upon other slaves, 
they would learn one from the other. B}^ not seeing 
or speaking to each other for a long time they will 
learn much sooner in Spain than they will here, and 
become much better interpreters. We will, however, 
not fail to do what we can ; it is true that, as there is 
but little communication between one of these islands 
and another, there is some diflference in their mode of 
expressing themselves, which mainly depends on the 
distance between them. But as, amongst all these 
islands, those inhabited by the cannibals are the 
largest and most populous, it must be evident that 
nothing but good can come from sending to Spain 
men and women who may thus one day be led to 
abandon their barbarous custom of eating their fellow- 
creatures. By learning the Spanish language in 
Spain they will much earlier receive baptism, and 
advance the welfare of their souls ; moreover, we shall 
gain credit with the Indians who do not practice the 
above-mentioned cruel custom, when they see that we 
have seized and led captive those who injure them, 
and whose very name alone fills them with horror. 
You will assure their Highnesses that our arrival in 
this country and the sight of so fine a fleet have pro- 
duced the most imposing effect for the present, and 
promise great security hereafter ; for all the inhabi- 
tants of this great island, and of others, when they see 
the good treatment that we shall show to those who do 
well, and the punishment that we shall inflict on those 
who do wrong, will hasten to submit, so that we shall 



2 1 8 COL UMB US AND SL A VER T. 

be able to lay our commands on them as vassals of their 
Highnesses. And as even now they not only readily 
comply with every wish that we express, but also of 
their own accord endeavor to do what they think will 
please us, I think that their Highnesses may feel as- 
sured that, on the other side also, the arrival of this 
fleet has in many respects secured for them, both for 
the present and the future, a wide renown amongst 
all Christian princes, but they themselves will be 
able to form a much better judgment on this subject 
than it is in my power to give expression to." 

"Z<?/ him be informed ofzuhat has transpired respecting 
the cannibals that came over to Spaiii. He has done 
well and let him. do as he says, btU let him endeavor by 
all possible means to convert them to our holy Cat ko lie 
religion, and do the same with respect to the i^ihabitants 
of all the islands to ivhich he 7nay goi''' 

" Item. You will tell their Highnesses that the wel- 
fare of the souls of the said cannibals, and of the in- 
habitants of this island also, has suggested the 
thought that the greater the number that are sent over 
to Spain the better, and this good service may result 
to their Highnesses in the following manner. Con- 
sidering what great need we have of cattle and of 
beasts of burden, both for food and to assist the set- 
tlers in this and all these islands, both for peopling 
the land and cultivating the soil, their Highnesses 
might authorize a suitable number of caravels to come 
here every year to bring over the said cattle and pro- 
visions and other articles ; these cattle, etc., might be 
sold at moderate prices for account of the bearers, and 
the latter might be paid with slaves taken from among 



COLUMBUS AND SLAVERY. 



219 



the Caribbees, who are a wild people fit for any work, 
well proportioned and very intelligent, and who, when 
they have got rid of the cruel habits to which they 
have become accustomed, will be better than any other 
kind of slaves. When they are out of their country 
they will forget their cruel customs, and it will be 
easy to obtain plenty of these savages by means of row- 
boats that we propose to build. It is taken for granted 
that each of the caravels sent by their Highnesses will 
have on board a confidential man, who will take care 
that the vessels do not stop anywhere else than here, 
where they are to unload and reload their vessels. 
Their Highnesses might fix duties on the slaves that 
may be taken over, upon their arrival in Spain. You 
will ask for a reply upon this point, and bring it to me 
in order that I may be able to take the necessary 
measures should the proposition merit the approbation 
of their Highnesses." 

" The consideration of this subject has been suspended for 
a time, until fresh advices arrive from the other side ; let 
the Ad^niral write zvhat he thinks upon the subject. " 

Clearly enough, this is an out-and-out proposition on 
the part of Columbus to enslave the Caribbean can- 
nibals, and shows that his ideas of personal freedom 
were not so far in advance of the world's thought as 
were his conceptions of cosmography. It is indeed a 
great merit for a man's judgment to be ahead of his 
time, but for a man to think and act simply abreast of 
his age surely is no cause of censure. And what could 
be more unjust than to judge any one by a standard 
hundreds of years in advance ? In this latter part of 
the fifteenth century the African slave-trade was fairly 



2 20 COL UMB US AND SLA VER T. 

inaugurated and had the highest moral and religious 
sanction, and it has taken nearly all the centuries 
since to reach a universally clear conviction as to the 
wrong and general mischievousness of the system. 
American authors, who have still living among them 
thousands of human beings who once stood on the 
slave-block, as a part of the goods and chattels of the 
nation, are in an awkward predicament for condemning 
the world's hero of 1494 for not anticipating the 
decisions of the latter half of the nineteenth century. 
The argument used by Columbus, that the advantages 
of civilization and Christianity would offset the loss of 
personal freedom to a man-eating savage, finds its par- 
allel at least in arguments offered in this country by 
politicians and learned divines within our own recollec- 
tion. 

But if the opinion of Columbus may be extenuated 
in the light, or rather in the darkness, of his age, the 
immediate hesitation as to accepting that opinion on the 
part of the monarchs, and their final decision to reject 
it — due mainly to the kindheartedness of Isabella, no 
doubt — may justly be regarded as a decision in advance 
of that age. 

The remainder of the memorial is occupied with 
itemized statements concerning the purchase of certain 
vessels, the best manner of chartering caravels for the 
West Indies, the dishonest dealing of the horse-venders 
at Seville, the improper conduct of the horsemen in 
Hayti, the need of caution in sending out well-disposed 
persons to colonize the Indies, the need of more arms, 
etc., etc. But the most notable items are concerning 
certain benefits and privileges asked for Pedro Magarite 



DISCONTENT IN THE COLONY. 221 

and Juan Aguado, from both of whom he afterward 
received exceedingly unkind treatment. 

February 2, 1494, the fleet of twelve sail left for Spain. 
The qtiantity of gold carried back was not excessive, 
but the letters from Columbus, Friar Buil, Dr. Chanca, 
and others of influence, along with the personal report 
of Gorbolan,^ sustained the hopes of the enterprise. 

Sickness, hunger, and disappointment, on the side of 
the globe opposite home — in a wilderness of savages — 
were not very conducive to contentment, on the part of 
those whose terms of service had not expired, when the 
fleet spread its sails for the return. And two officials, 
so situated as to be able to make their evil influence felt, 
became leaders of such as were affected by the mutinous 
spirit. One was Bernal Diaz, comptroller of the colony, 
and the other was Fermin Cedo, the assayer of metals. 
The former could speak disparagingly of the small 
accounts which figured in the returns of this loud- 
trumpeted enterprise, and the other was wide-mouthed 
in crying down the gold which had raised such great 
expectations. Irving, following Bernaldez, says of the 
latter mutineer: " He pertinaciously insisted that there 
was no gold in the island, or at least that it was found 
in such inconsiderable quantities as not to repay the 
search. He declared that the large grains of virgin 
ore brought by the natives had been melted ; that they 

^ The caciques led Gorbolan and his party " to a workshop where a gold- 
smith was beating out gold into very thin plates. The gold was laid on a 
cylindrical stone with highly polished surface. This artificer, possessing 
excellent skill in making wreaths and turbans (for the Indian women use 
these as sumptuous ornaments for their heads), was engaged in beating out 
to an extreme degree of tenuity a plate so large that to carry it would sur- 
pass the power of the strongest man." Such is Syllacius's report of Gor- 
bolan's search for gold. 



222 DISCONTENT IN THE C0L0N7. 

had been the slow accumulation of many years, having 
remained a long time in the families of the Indians, 
and handed down from generation to generation ; which 
in many instances was probably the case. Other 
specimens, of a large size, he pronounced of a very 
inferior quality, and debased with brass by the natives. 
The words of this man outweighed the evidence of facts, 
and many joined him in the belief that the island was 
really destitute of gold. It was not until some time 
afterwards that the real character of Fermin Cedo was 
ascertained and the discovery made that his ignorance 
was at least equal to his obstinacy and presumption — 
qualities apt to enter largely into the compound of a 
meddlesome and mischievous man." 

That Columbus had grossly exaggerated the advan- 
tages of the newly discovered country, and so deceived the 
people in Spain in order to magnify his own importance, 
was the general charge. The immense resources 
of the West Indies, which have since enriched the 
world and administered incalculably to its luxuries, 
were entirely overlooked by these idle adventurers, who 
were only seeking for great fortunes in gold ready to 
hand. The flattering prospects of mining resources 
brought to light by Ojeda and Gorbolau were maliciously 
ignored ; and Bernal Diaz, who had already had some 
variances with the Admiral, joined with several others 
as ringleaders, and resolved on seizing the ships 
remaining in the harbor and returning to Spain. This 
could be easily effected during the Admiral's illness, 
and the influence of Diaz at court would extenuate the 
mutinous movement, especially when it was known 
what great disappointment the colony had suffered. 



A MUTINOUS PLOT. 223 

But this plot, so fraugHt witH miscliief, was discovered, 
and in the process of investigation there was found 
tucked away in the buoy of one of the ships a most 
slanderous document prepared by Diaz against Colum- 
bus, for the prejudice of the court. The ringleaders 
were arrested, Diaz was imprisoned in one of the ships 
to be sent to Spain for trial, and others were punished 
in various ways, according to the degree of the guilt of 
each. In order to prevent any like occurrence after- 
wards, all the guns and munitions of war were taken 
out of four of the ships and placed in the fifth and 
largest, under the care of some of the most trustworthy 
persons in the colony. This first revolt is a fair sample 
of the spirit and conduct with which Columbus had to 
contend throughout his bitter trials in the Indies. 
Though the punishments he inflicted were mild, barely 
such as were necessary for the public safety, he was at 
once stigmatized as severe and tyrannical ; and the fact 
that he was a foreigner, with merely newly-made friends 
and influence in Spain, was made to tell heavily against 
him, especially by such as had both friends and 
influence at home. 

Nothing in the enterprises of this new world, in the 
estimation of Columbus, demanded his personal attention 
more than the development of the gold-mines in the 
mountains of Cibao. Having now recovered his health, 
home affairs at Isabella were organized with view to his 
absence. His brother, Diego, mild and pacific in 
temper rather than shrewd and firm, was placed in com- 
mand of the infant city and the little fleet in the har- 
bor. Other persons of influence constituted a board of 
counsellors. 



224 



GOING TO THE GOLD MOUNTAINS. 



The expedition to the mountains would require 
energy and skill, as well as a very considerable force. 
A fort must be built, the mines must be worked, and the 
natives must be impressed with the power and mag- 
nificence of the white man. A regular engineering and 
mining outfit, therefore, was necessary, and such mil- 
itary display as the Admiral could command. A start- 
ling sight in those verdant forests and plains of early 
spring — March 12th — must have been the 400 men 
which he led out in glistening steel, their ranks brist- 
ling with lances and cross-bows, their swords and 
arquebuses ready for death-dealing execution ; and a 
novelty to this array itself must have been the multi- 
tude of Indians which hovered around and brought up 
the rear. The roll of the drum and the penetrating 
notes of the trumpet awaken the woodland echoes, and the 
movement is in regular rank and file. The first day's 
march is across the tropical plain from the sea to the 
mountains. As night came on, they encamped at the 
foot of the onl}^ convenient pass of the Monte Christi 
range in that vicinity. A mere Indian trail wound 
upward among the rocks, often well-nigh obstructed by 
bushes and tangled thickets. But by the close of the 
next day the enterprising young hidalgos had engi- 
neered and completed a convenient military road, after 
the manner of the road-making in the mountains of 
Granada during the recent Moorish war. This Gen- 
tleman's Pass, as it was called, has long since been 
obliterated by the rank-growing vegetation. The next 
day, having reached the mountain-top, a most enchant- 
ing view of an immense tropical vale opened before 
them — the same which had delighted Ojeda and his 



THE ROYAL VALE. 225 

company when prospecting for gold a short time before. 
In every direction, as far as the eye could reach, was 
this sea of verdure, bounded in the horizon by lofty 
mountain ranges. The meadows, half wild, half cul- 
tured, were robed in the tall rank grasses of the tropics ; 
shrubs and climbing vines were forest-like in their 
exuberance; the stately palms and wide-spreading ma- 
hogany trees rose gigantic all over the far-reaching 
landscape ; the smooth rivers, winding their way from 
the mountains to the sea, gleamed here and there 
through this wealth of the tropics, and at innumerable 
points rose the smoke of the native hamlet. On the 
impulse of the magnificent view, Columbus named this 
grand part of the island Vega Real, or the Royal 
Vale. 

One cannot read the account of the descent of this 
miniature army into the plain without breathing some- 
thing of the air of romance which must have entranced 
them on every side — without wishing one could have 
been there to enjoy the novel scene. From every direc- 
tion the immense Indian population came out to see 
the sight — such a sight as had never come to them 
even in their wildest dreams. The regular step of well- 
drilled infantry, bearded and with rosy complexion, clad 
in the most brilliant colors and in polished steel ; the 
weapons of war, so unlike the rude Indian lance or 
war-club, or bows and arrows chipped and scraped out 
with flint ; the waving plumes, streaming banners and 
martial music, but, above all, the prancing cavalry 
which led the van — the simple-minded natives suppos- 
ing. Las Casas tells us, that horse and rider constituted 
one beiug — the centaur of the ancients — and being sur- 



226 HOSPITALITY OF THE NATIVES. 

prised beyond measure at tlie dismounting to see the 
double creature tbus parcelled out — bow all tbis must 
bave made tbe poor naked Indian gape and stare ! At 
first tbe astonisbed beings fled, leaving bouse and 
bome witbout an^'- protection, save tbe bars of slender 
reeds placed across tbe doorway of tbe wigwam, 
tbinking tbe wbite men migbt understand tbat item of 
Indian etiquette, wbicb tbus forbade tbe entrance of a 
stranger. Columbus at once commanded a scrupulous 
regard for tbis simple contrivance. But tbe inter- 
preters spoke tbeir good words for tbe strangers, and 
tbe common trinket presents were distributed. Now 
tbe crowds came so tbick and fast and brougbt sucb 
abundance of tbeir victuals and drink tbat tbe 
Spaniards could scarcely make tbeir way. Tbey were 
surprised, moreover, to see bow tbe Indians accompany- 
ing tbem would enter tbe bouses tbey passed and 
appropriate whatever tbey wanted in tbe way of food, 
witbout let or hindrance. The common hospitality of 
the savage — always generous — was enhanced in this 
country, it would seem, by the abundant spontaneity of 
nature in providing for the simple wants of the 
natives. 

Having made five leagues on the way across tbe 
plain, they reached the River Yagui, wbicb Columbus 
named the River of Reeds, not knowing that it was 
the same which tbe year before, on the coast near 
Monte Christi, be had called the River of Gold from 
the shining particles seen in tbe sand. Here they 
encamped for the night, and the imagination points a 
happy scene when we are told tbat, enraptured with 
the charms of nature all about tbem, tbe hundreds 



GALA DATS. 227 

plunged into the river for that delightful and social 
recreation — a-diving and a-swimming in company. 
To one who has revelled in this sort of thing Michael 
Angelo's '* Cartoon of Bathing Soldiers " will never 
lose its fascination. Scarcely less could have been the 
fun and frolic the next morning, when the river, too 
deep to ford, was crossed with canoes and rafts, while 
the horses were made to swim over. 

Now follow two days more of the delightful march 
across what might be called, according to the descrip- 
tion, the vale of paradise. Forest and stream have 
an endless variety, an endless charm of novelty, and 
some of the rivers which come down from Cibao have 
the glittering particles of gold in their sands. To that 
limpid stream in the bed of which one can admire the 
smooth round pebbles is given the name Rio Verde, 
on account of its emerald banks. 

Everywhere the abundant native population give 
them the same generous reception. Conciliated by 
the interpreters, they return from their flight, find their 
wigwams, barricaded with reeds, unmolested, and do 
their utmost to feed and entertain the strangers. 

At last they have crossed the Royal Vale, and look 
up the rugged heights of the mountains of Cibao, 
which means the mountain of rocks. If the aspect is 
not so luxurious and inviting, and the pass appears 
steep and dif&cult, the visions of gold teeming in those 
rocky summits will inspirit the pioneers to open a 
road for the army early the next day. But these four 
hundred men, living here in the open air, with plenty 
of vigorous exercise, have ravenous appetites which 
will not be satisfied with the light and easily digested 



228 LOCATING THE FORTRESS. 

food of the natives. The bread and wine, therefore, 
are disappearing- at the most alarming rate, and some 
must go back with a company of mules to bring in- 
creased rations from Isabella. 

The next morning they wind their way up, amidst 
broken and tumbled rocks, through an abrupt ravine, 
in a long strung-out line, leading their horses. Reach- 
ing the heights, they look backwards over the same 
charming landscape of such immense reach, the vale 
being, Las Casas says, eighty leagues long and twenty 
to thirty wide. Striking, indeed, must have been the 
contrast between the enchanting scene left behind 
and the rugged heights, towering toward heaven, all 
around them. As they were now some eighteen 
leagues from Isabella, and the mountain-passes were 
toilsome for transportation, the Admiral began to pros- 
pect for a location, which he did the more readily, 
since there was not only gold in the bottoms of the 
streams which cut their way down the ravines, but 
there were specimens of amber and of lapis lazuli, and 
possibly there were indications of mines of copper. 
Casting about, he found a sort of plateau among the 
declivities of these mountains, very fertile, and en- 
livened by the purling notes of a small river, its clear 
waters washing the most curious and bright-colored 
stones, aye, even large masses of elegant marble and 
bits of jasper. As it swept nearly around a sort of 
eminence, it would serve as a ditch to the fortress, very 
little further fortification being necessary. Here a 
strong wooden fortress, called St. Thomas, was built, 
the name being a playful reference to the incredulity 
of his enemies, the more appropriate since here the 



GOLD I GOLD I 229 

gold could be seen with the eyes and touched with the 
hands. 

Here, as elsewhere, the natives soon learned that 
gold was the great quest of the Spaniards, so they be- 
came very enterprising in procuring it. Some hurried 
away to the mountain streams, and sifted the sands 
till they procured quite an encouraging amount of the 
precious dust. All this they readily bartered for 
trinkets and gew-gaws. See that old man bring two 
pieces of ore an ounce in weight, delighted beyond 
measure in receiving a hawk's bell in return ! Is the 
Admiral surprised at the size of these specimens ? In 
his country, only a half daj'-'s journe}^ distant, pieces 
could be found as big as an orange ! While others, 
bringing grains of ten and twelve drachms, had seen 
masses as big as the head of a child ! But the mine 
of golden wonders was always a long way off — in some 
hidden or out-of-the-way place. 

While the Admiral was thus superintending the 
construction of the fortress, Juan de Luxan, a young 
cavalier of Madrid, was assigned the task of exploring 
this mountain province, supposed to be about as large 
as the kingdom of Portugal. Before long he and his 
small band of armed men returned with a decidedly 
interesting account of things. Cibao was indeed a 
mountainous country, but it abounded in excellent 
pasturage, the frequent showers in that elevated 
region bringing on such a luxuriant growth of grass 
as frequently reached their saddles in riding through. 
Then there were many plateaus susceptible of cultiva- 
tion, and the aromatic plants and trees ! There must 
be an abundance of spices in this region. As to 



230 THE GARRISON. 

grapes, it was the very land of promise. The vines 
climbed to the tree-tops, bearing an abundance of the 
most juicy and delicious clusters. Moreover, each 
valley and glen had its mountain stream, bringing 
down the shining gold-dust ! And had not the In- 
dians let De Luxan into the secret as to where to find 
the streams richest in gold, and where the best mines 
were ? But on these points no one but the Admiral 
could share his secret. 

The fortress being completed, Pedro Margarite was 
made commander of the garrison, numbering fifty-six. 
Returning to Isabella, the Admiral met the Spaniards 
on the return with supplies on the banks of Rio 
Verde. They examined the river to find a ford, and 
the Admiral was planning the best route from the new 
settlement to the gold regions. He now resided for 
some time in the Indian villages, cultivating the 
acquaintance and learning the habits of these people. 
He found that in many instances, especially where 
they came in contact with the raiding attacks of the 
Caribs, they were much more warlike than he had 
supposed. He also found that he had been mistaken in 
supposing that they were without any religion. They 
believed in a supreme deity and in a regular and 
immense order of mediators, called Zemes^ which they 
represented by rudely fashioned idols. Each cacique 
had his idol or Zeme^ which he kept in a sort of 
wigwam temple set apart for the purpose. These 
were their tutelar deities, whose influence they propi- 
tiated. They had their priesthood, their processions, 
and their rude worship. If any one managed to get 
possession of the image of another's Zenie^ the influ- 



RELIGION OF THE INDIANS. 231 

ence of the deity was transferred accordingly. These 
people, like the heathen in general, had very absurd 
notions about the creation, believing, for instance, that 
the sun and moon issued out of a cave in their island. 
They seem to have had in general some conception 
of an immortality or future state. Sometimes the 
caciques practised gross impositions on their people, 
hiding a confidant in some corner of the temple, who 
then spoke through the image by means of a hollow 
tube. As is frequently the case among savages, the 
priesthood dabbled in the healing art, using herbs as 
simples, rather than according to intelligent combina- 
tion of the healing virtues of plants.^ 

During his sojourn with the inhabitants of the 
Vega Real, the busy Admiral must have been im- 
pressed with their idle and easy mode of life. A slight 
tillage of the soil would produce all the maize, potatoes, 
and yucca roots which, in addition to the fishes, reptiles, 
and abundant spontaneity of native fruits, would fully 
suppl}^ their frugal wants. Except in the colder alti- 
tudes of the mountains, the temperature was never 
severe enough to suggest the need of a covering ;^ and 
as the naked human form was as proper to their eyes 
as the common objects in nature, and perhaps more 
beautiful than tree or flowers, why should they toil or 
spin ? That costly and elaborate thing which we call 
a house their genial climate and simple tastes did 
not call for, except in its simplest and most rudimentary 

^A full account of absurdities of the religious belief of the natives may be 
found between chapters 62 and 63 of the biography of Fernando Columbus. 

*In the colder, mountain regions it would seem that the natives kept them- 
selves warm in winter by an excess of flesh diet well seasoned with red 
peppers. 



232 ^^^ UTIFUL SIMPL ICI7 T OP L IFE. 

forms. They lounged, chatted, laughed, danced and 
sung, every day being, no doubt, a happy pastoral to 
the more thoughtful and sesthetic of these children of 
nature. Occasionally the war-club, the riide lance, and 
the bow and arrow had to be taken up against the 
incursion of the fierce Caribs, but the nearer neigh- 
bors were so peaceful among themselves as to be a 
model to many civilized nations ; and that common 
terror of savage countries, the ferocious wild beast, was 
not known. How often we turn with delectation to 
that charming picture of this region given from the 
pen of Peter Martyr. " The island enjoyed perpetual 
springtime, and was blessed with continual summer 
and harvest. The trees preserved their leaves through- 
out the year, and the meadows continued always 
green." '^' '=' '•' " There is no province nor any 
region which is not remarkable for the majesty of its 
mountains, the fruitfulness of its vales, the pleasant- 
ness of its hills and delightful plains, with abundance 
of fair rivers running through them. There never 
was any noisome animal found in it, nor yet any raven- 
ing four-footed beast ; no lion nor bear, no fierce tigers, 
nor crafty foxes, nor devouring wolves, but all things 
blessed and fortunate." 

Columbus reached Isabella on the 29th of March. 
" The plants and fruits of the ' Old World,' which he 
was endeavoring to introduce into the island," says 
Irving, " gave promise of rapid increase. The orchards, 
fields, and gardens were in a great state of forward- 
ness. The seeds of various friiits had produced 3^oung 
plants ; the sugar-cane had prospered exceedingly ; a 
native vine, trimmed and dressed with care, had yielded 



RAPID GROWTH OF VEGETATION. 233 

grapes of tolerable flavor, and cuttings from European 
vines already began to form their clusters. On the 
30th of IMarch a husbandman brought to Columbus 
ears of wheat which had been sown in the latter part 
of January. The smaller kind of garden herbs came 
to maturity in sixteen days, and the larger kind, such 
as melons, gourds, pumpkins, and cucumbers, were fit 
for the table within a month after the seed had been 
put into the ground. The soil, moistened b}^ brooks 
and rivers and frequent showers and stimulated by an 
ardent sun, possessed those principles of quick and 
prodigal fecundity which surprise the strangers, accus- 
tomed to less vigorous climates." 

Columbus had scarcely reached Isabella, when a 
messenger was at his heels from Fort St. Thomas, bear- 
ing evil tidings. Would the scenes of La Navidad be 
re-enacted ? Once more his good instructions had been 
disregarded. Lust for gold and for the Indian women 
had again betra\^ed the Spaniards into such courses as 
to sadly shake the confidence of the natives in them as 
celestial beings. Instead of their usual cordiality, 
therefore, the Indians were shunning the white man 
and were abandoning their villages in the neighbor- 
hood, while evidences were not wanting that the fierce 
and wily Caonabo was assembling his war forces among 
the mountains. 

But what had Columbus to fear from these naked, 
timid savages ? Were they not in mortal terror of fire- 
arms and of his steel-clad soldiers mounted on their 
war-horses ? He would reinforce Margarite with 
twenty men, would send him more bread and gun- 
powder ; this, with thirty men detailed to open a road 



234 SICKNESS OF THE COLONY. 

between Isabella and St. Thomas, would suffice for the 
safety of this gold-mining interest. 

Far more serious was the outlook at Isabella. The 
humid climate, reeking with the malarias of the decay 
of the rankest vegetation under a tropical sun, was 
telling on the delicately reared constitutions from the 
old soil of Europe. This infant city of the New World, 
founded in such bright hopes, was become a hospital 
without conveniences. What was the scanty supply of 
medicines and the few physicians for such a multitude 
shaking with chills and burning with fevers ? The terrible 
emergencies of inexperienced pioneer life were putting 
all hands, even to hidalgos and priests, under the 
severest requisitions of hard labor. Who, then, could 
minister to the wants of the sick, formerly accustomed 
to the most delicate attentions ? Of the rather scanty 
supply of provisions, much had spoiled through care- 
lessness. The whole community, therefore, must be 
put on rations. The mind, too, was quite as sick as the 
body. A more bitterly disappointed people never existed. 
They had left home for the high civilization and the lux- 
uries of the Orient, and had landed in a wilderness of 
savages. By conquest and trade, they had expected to 
appropriate every kind of wealth and luxury ready to 
hand. But gold, the quantity doubtful and the qual- 
ity spoken against, was obtainable only by the labori- 
ous processes of the miner. The sparkling gems, the 
silken fabrics, and the costly spices were wholly want- 
ing — unless it were the fiery agi-peppers of the natives. 
Even bread did not exist in this country, and the 
hungry, half-starving, whether sick or well, must sup- 
plement their mouldy bread from Spain with cassava, 



HUMILIA TION OF HIDALGOS AND FRIARS. 235 

fish, and lizards till grain could be grown and mills 
built and the baker's art flourisb in the wilderness. 
Ah ! everything the heart wished was on the other side 
of the vast ocean sea — on the other side of the glob^J 
The death of the disappointed and heart-broken must 
have been a daily occurrence. The living, perhaps, 
even envied the dying. The Spaniard of high-blood, 
with blistered hands and sun-burnt brow, in the toil and 
moil of digging and building, cursed the day when he 
left the sure advantages of old Spain for the phantom 
hopes of this new country. 

And who was the cause of all of this incurable 
misery ? This upstart foreigner — this '' gay deceiver " 
— now Admiral, and would-be king of a new realm at 
the cost of the treasure and the best blood of Spain ! 
Some of the gay young hidalgos refuse to fall into the 
ranks of laboring men, and Friar Buil is indignant that 
he and his household must needs submit to limited 
rations of mouldy bread, along with the common people. 
But this Penoese is a severe disciplinarian, and, without 
partiality or pity, demands that " If any man will not 
work, neither shall he eat," and in the privations of the 
colony there shall be no " respect of persons." 

No degree of resolution could close the eyes of the 
Admiral to the perils of his situation. While he was a 
comparati\'^ stranger in Spain, mau}^ of these malcon- 
tents had influence, and might readily turn the tide of 
royal and public favor against him and his enterprise. 
Some diversion of the community, therefore, must at 
once be brought about in order to avert imminent dan- 
ger. To this end he planned a sort of militar}^ and 
exploriug expedition to the interior. Ojeda was to 



236 INSTRUCTIONS OF MARGARITE. 

relieve Margarite at Fort St. Thomas, and the latter was 
to lead out all who could possibly be spared from busi- 
ness and the care of the sick, which proved to be two 
hundred and fifty with the cross-bow, one hundred and 
ten with arquebuses, and sixteen horsemen with 
lances, all of which were led by twenty officers. This 
commander, at once knight and nobleman, might surely 
be trusted to explore Cibao and other parts of the 
island. 

Columbus's letter of instructions to him discovers 
his usnal sagacit3^ While the Indians should be com- 
pelled to respect the rights of property vested in the 
white men, and should be duly pnnished for every 
kind of theft, they themselves must be treated with 
the utmost justice and discretion, and must be pro- 
tected froHi insult, their confidence and friendship 
being thus secured. When the army needed supplies, 
these must be purchased regularly by one appointed 
by the Admiral. If the natives refused to sell, mak- 
ing it necessary to take the provisions by force, it 
must be done gently, even with kindness and caresses. 
Individual trafiic with them must be forbidden lest the 
privilege be abused. It must always be borne in 
mind that the sovereigns are more desirous of the con- 
version of the Indians than of any riches to be derived 
from them. The army must be kept together and 
under thorough discipline, thus guarding against the 
savages, who, though cowardly indeed, might become 
very treacherous and cruel. 

As to Caonabo and his brothers, they were artful 
and dangerous, and if the utmost deceit and strategy 
of war were necessary to their capture, these might be 



STEALING THE CLOTHES. 



237 



considered justifiable in the case of foes so sanguinary 
and dangerous. 

The march of Ojeda's miniature army — a little less 
than four hundred — to Fort St. Thomas was not with- 
out incident. On reaching the Vega Real he found 
that three Spaniards, on their return from the fort in 
the mountains, had been robbed by five Indians sent 
as guides by a cacique in the neighborhood. These 
Indians, attempting to carry the white men's clothes 
over the river at the ford, turned back when about half 
way across, taking the clothes with them. The 
cacique, instead of punishing them, appropriated the 
clothes and refused to restore them. Ojeda captured 
one of the offenders and brought him to the public 
square — so common to the Indian village — and had his 
ears cut off in true Spanish style. Then arresting the 
cacique, with his son and nephew, sent them in chains 
to Isabella, according to the summary military method 
of that day. 

The terrified prisoners were followed by a friendly 
cacique, who pleaded for their forgiveness on the ground 
of some kindness which he had formerly shown the 
Spaniards. The Admiral appeared deaf to entreaty, 
and ordered the prisoners to the public square, their 
hands bound behind them, their crime to be publicly 
proclaimed and their heads struck off. Perhaps the 
execution was not intended to take place, but merely 
a sufficient scare of the poor savages to deter them 
from further theft. At the place appointed for the 
execution the assurances for good conduct in the 
future and the tearful entreaties of the mediating 
cacique were so moving as to make it easy for the 



238 



COWARDICE OF THE INDIANS. 



Admiral to exercise clemency. THe lives of the 
offenders were spared. 

Before the parties liad time to disperse, a horseman 
arrived from St. Thomas, who affirmed that in passing 
the house of the cacique whose fault had just been 
condoned he had rescued five Spaniards who had been 
taken by the natives, over four hundred of them flee- 
ing at the sight of his horse. Surely there was not 
much to fear from this sort of people, as long, at least, 
as horses could be had. 




CHAPTER XII. 

THE SOUTH SIDE OF CUBA EXPLORED. 

E are unfavorably impressed with the over- 
mastering passion of Columbus for gold. 
" The excellence and power of the gold of 
Ophir," he says, " cannot be described ; he who 
possesses it does what he will in this world ; nay, it 
even enables him to draw souls from purgatory to para- 
dise." But we must not conceive of him as standing 
alone in his ardent search for the precious metal. The 
sovereigns of Spain, and, indeed, the whole Spanish 
nation, were clamoring at his back for gold, and in 
the astonishing sentence above quoted he simply 
mirrored the sentiment of his age. After locating his 
colony, his next enterprise had been to build the 
fortress St. Thomas, in the regions of the gold-mines 
of Cibao, in order to develop that mining interest. 
Next to the accumulation of gold the great desidera- 
tum with Columbus and his sovereigns was the 
further exploration of the new country. Portugal had 
reached the Cape of Good Hope, and would be crowd- 
ing all sail for India. Columbus, having taken the 
more direct route to the westward, supposed that he 
was already in India. Which nation, then, would be 
able to appropriate the greater part of this much- 
desired country — this golden dream of the age ? By 
all means, the Admiral must push directly for the heart 
of India — for the seat of the Grand Khan. 



240 '^HE RICHES OF CATHAT. 

First, however, the good order of things at Isabella 
must be secured. Heuce Diego, the brother of 
Columbus, is placed at the head of affairs, as president 
of a council, of which Father Buil and three others 
are members. 

Three of the smaller vessels, caravels, are fitted up 
for the exploration of the south side of Cuba, as this 
immense territory is supposed to be an extension of 
the mainland of India. Cathay, the supposed name 
of a city and also of a province, was the part of the 
dominion of the Grand Khan in quest, which, " as 
described by John de Mandeville and others who have 
seen it," says Bernaldez, " is the richest province in 
the world and the most abundant in gold and silver 
and the other metals and silks." 

The two larger vessels were left in the harbor, as 
they might be inconvenient for entering ba3^s and 
rivers. April 24th, 1494, the little fleet put out to the 
westward. The Admiral called at the site of La 
Navidad, hoping for an interview with Guacanagari, 
but the chieftain seemed to be shunning him. On 
the 29th he made for the shores of Cuba. Having 
reached the eastern end of that island, he coasted 
westward along the south side. Some twenty leagues 
forward he entered a grand harbor. A narrow, wind- 
ing, deep channel led to a beautiful sheet of water, 
resembling a lake surrounded by mountains. The 
great tropical forest which clothed the long reaches of 
ascent were laden alike with blossoms and with fruit. 
" In this country," says Bernaldez, " the trees and plants 
bear fruit twice in the year, and from the fruits a most 
delicious odor arose, which could be perceived at some 



THE INDIAN BANQUET. 34 1 

distance on the water. There were no habitations in 
this harbor, but as they went in they saw several fires 
burning close to the water, and a dog and two beds, but 
no men. They landed, and found more than four 
quintals of fish upon spits before the fires, and rabbits 
and two serpents, and very near they saw at the foot of 
the trees in many places a great many serpents, the 
most nasty, hideous, ugly creatures that any human 
being ever saw, all with their mouths sewed up. They 
were all of the color of dry wood, the skin of the whole 
body very much wrinkled, especially on the head, where 
it came down over the eyes, which were terribly ven- 
omous, and all were covered with very hard shells like 
scales of a fish, and from the head to the end of the 
tail, along the middle of the body, were long ugly pro- 
jections, sharp as points of diamonds." As may be 
seen from the writer's own statements, these were not 
serpents, but the famous iguana, still a noted article of 
food in those parts. 

This banquet, preparing in so romantic a spot, had 
been suddenly abandoned at the strange sight of the 
ships. What could this frightful ocean phantom be ? 

The hungry Spaniards fell upon the savory feast. 
The fish and the rabbit-like utias they devoured with the 
utmost relish, but those huge lizard-shaped iguanas ! 
Who but an Indian could taste those ? And yet Peter 
Martyr tells us they were to the natives what pheasants 
and peacocks were to the grandees of Spain. A com- 
mon Indian did not aspire to them. 

The repast over, the Spaniards rove about the woods 
in the vicinity. Behold, from the top of yonder high 
rock the curious eyes of some seventy natives look 



242 CONCILIATING THE INDIANS. 

down upon tliem. As the rosy-faced strangers attempt 
to approach them the multitude vanishes in the thick 
woods and in the gorges of the mountains. No ; there 
is one whose curiosity is too much for him. He lingers 
about, gazing at the strangers and won by their friendly 
pantomimes. The Lucayan interpreter advances with 
his usual good word for the white men. He is under- 
stood, and the native runs to tell the good news to his 
people. Now they all come pouring down from the 
rocks and defiles of the forests in the most confident 
and respectful manner. Through the Lucayan they 
explain their enterprise to Columbus. Their cacique is 
about to entertain a neighboring cacique, and has sent 
them to procure the banquet, which they are now 
making ready for transportation. The fishes and meats 
will not spoil so readily after being roasted. But what 
will they do now after the ravages which the Spaniards 
have made ? Oh ! that is a mere trifle. One night's fish- 
ing will replace all. The Admiral insists, however, on 
making compensation, and shaking hands in European 
style, they part in the happiest mood. " He inquired 
of the Indians," says Bernaldez, " whether it (Cuba) was 
an island or a continent, but the}^ are a stupid race, who 
think that all the world is an island, and do not know 
what a continent is ; who have no written language nor 
records of antiquity, and delight in nothing else but in 
eating and in women ; and so they said that it was an 
island, though some said it was an island which he 
could not sail around in forty moons. 

" The next day, before sunrise, the Admiral set sail 
from this place, towards the west, following the coast of 
the country, which they saw to be very beautiful and 



BEAUTY OF THE COUNTRY. 



243 



thickly settled. As they perceived the vessels, great 
numbers of men and boys, small and great, came run- 
ning to the shore to see them, bringing bread and other 
things to eat, showing the bread and gourds full of 
water, and crying, 'Eat, take, people from heaven!' 
They asked them to land and go to their houses, and 
some came in their canoes for the same purpose. In 
this w^ay they sailed along until they came to a gulf 
where there was a vast number of villages, and the 
lands and fields all looked like the most beautiful gar- 
dens in the world, the land being elevated and moun- 
tainous." Here the Spaniards spend a night, and the 
natives, with their usual kindness, overwhelm them 
Avith hospitality. 

But how about gold ? Where was it to be found ? 
In a great island to the south, say the Indians. This 
may be Babeque, for which the Admiral searched so 
diligently in his former voyage along the north side of 
Cuba. And still the natives pointed to the great island 
in the south as the place where the Spaniards might 
find gold. This was too much for the Admiral. He 
turned his prows out into the wide ocean. May 23d, in 
hope of finding the gold region. 

It was not long before the unmistakable signs of 
land appeared in the horizon. But the ships made 
slow progress, and it was two days and nights before the 
cloud-like mountain-tops were converted into terra firma, 
with the usual enchanting scener}^ of mountains, vales, 
rivers, harbors, and multitudes of natives — all await- 
ing possession. 

But what a scene is here ! A fleet of some seventy 
canoes, bristling with savages painted in all colors. 



244 ON THE WAR-PATH. 

feather-decorated, brandishing their lances and yell- 
ing as if to tear their throats, is flying out towards the 
ships. One of the canoes ventures nearer than the 
rest, so near that the Lucayan can address the inmates. 
Kind words and a few presents conciliate the whole 
company, so that the Admiral's ships move on unmo- 
lested. 

The vessels cast anchor in a harbor about midway 
along the north shore of Jamaica. " The gardens of 
Valencia are not to be compared to any part of this 
whole island," says Bernaldez, " so the Admiral 
named the harbor ' Santa Gloria.' " At daybreak the 
next morning they were under wa}^ again, in search 
of a harbor sufliciently sheltered to enable the Admiral 
to careen and caulk his ship, which was leaking badly. 
A good harbor was soon found, but when a boat was 
sent towards it two large canoes met them in a most 
hostile manner. They did not come near enough, 
however, to reach the Spaniards with their sharp 
wooden lances which the\^ hurled so furiously. The 
boat returned, and, as the water was so deep, the ship 
entered and cast anchor. At once the entire beach 
became a livel}^ scene. A multitude of painted 
savages, mostlj^ black, but exhibiting also a variety of 
colors, some partly dressed in palm leaves, all more or 
less decked out with feathers, rent the air with their 
war-whoops, and hurled their javelins at the ships. 

This cannot be tolerated. These savages must be 
made to respect the power of the white men. A boat- 
load of well-armed men makes towards the shore, and 
discharging a shower of arrows from their cross-bows, 
thus wounding several of the natives, the painted host 



THE INDIANS SCATTERED. 



245 



retreats pell-mell into the forests. The Spaniards 
pursue with their deadl}'- flights of arrows, " and a 
dog which had leaped from one of the vessels followed 
them," sa3's Bernaldez, " and bit them ; for one dog 
against the Indians is worth ten men." This treat- 
ment brought the poor savages to terms. Columbus 
was allowed to land and take peaceful possession of the 
island, which he named Santiago. Happily, the pretty 
Indian name, Jamaica, has been retained. The beauti- 
ful harbor, shaped like a horseshoe, is called Puerto 
Bueno. 

The remainder of the day everything was perfectly 
quiet. The next morning, before sunrise, six Indians 
were seen making friendly gestures on the shore. 
They had been sent by the caciques to make overtures 
of peace with the strangers. The Admiral responded 
most cordially, and the usual trinkets were sent to the 
chieftains. This proved conciliating. Very soon the 
shore swarmed with the painted multitudes. This 
time thej' brought provisions — articles similar to those 
brought by the natives of the other islands, but of 
better quality. 

There were now three da3's of friendl}^ intercourse 
and trade. As the Spaniards studied these savages, 
they came to regard them as decidedly in advance of 
the inhabitants of the neighboring islands. They 
were quite at home on the sea. '' The}- have more 
canoes here," says Bernaldez, "and larger than in 
any other region hitherto discovered, each made in 
one piece from the trunk of a tree, and each cacique in 
all that neighborhood has a large canoe, which he 
takes as much pride in using as a nobleman here 



246 CANOES AND TRAFFIC. 

would take in keeping a large and beautiful skip. 
Tkey kave tkem wrougkt from stem to stern witk va- 
rious figures and paintings, so tkat tkeir beauty is 
admirable. The Admiral measured one of tke large 
ones, wkick was 96 feet long and 8 feet wide." 

These people were also quite warlike in their dis- 
position and habits, thus resembling the Caribs. All 
their utensils were after the same pattern as those 
found in the other islands, but they were of better 
workmanship. 

As the ships proceeded along the coast to the west- 
ward, the natives were constantly coming out in their 
canoes to greet them and to keep up their kind of 
traffic. Beads, bells, and red caps were all celestial 
articles in their estimation, and far exceeded in value 
the cassava-bread, fish, fruits, and water — all of which 
was alike common with them. When the squadron 
reached the west end of the island, the wind being 
favorable to a direct course to Cuba, and there being 
no very flattering prospects of gold in Jamaica, it was 
decided to make for the former shore, it being regarded, 
of course, as a part of the mainland of Asia. 

How we wish we knew more about that enterprising 
Indian youth who begged the privilege of sailing with 
the Admiral. As " every human heart is human," his 
relatives were distressed at his adventure ; but, resolv- 
ing to evade the tearful entreates of his sisters, he 
hid himself away in one of the ships. We hope he 
was treated with special kindness, as the Admiral 
directed. 

May 1 8th Columbus reached Cuba. The cacique of 
the village where he landed had long since heard of 



A SB A OF ISLANDS. 247 

him. Indeed, the intelligence of his former visit on 
the other side of the island seems to have spread quite 
generally, so that the Spaniards were now anticipated 
at every point as wonderful beings come down from 
the skies. 

As the ships sailed westward they found the shore 
bending to the northeast for many leagues, then west 
again, thus forming an immense bay. Here the water 
was shallow and there was a most terrific thunder- 
storm. The situation was perplexing, for in such thun- 
der and lightning one should strike sail, and yet the 
shoal water required the sails to be spread. Fortu- 
nately, the storm was soon over. 

Now the shoals, sand-banks, and small islands became 
so numerous as to make sailing very dif&cult, and the 
sailor at the mast-head proclaimed a sea of islands 
stretching away to the horizon. Some were mere sand- 
banks, others were green and treeless, and others, 
especially those near the shore, were clothed with 
forests grand as those of the adjacent shores. The 
Admiral undertook to give a name to each island, but 
the number was so immense — 160 counted in one day — 
that he was content to name the mass the Queen's 
Gardens. Would it not be well to sail outside of this 
archipelago ? But did not Sir John Mandeville and 
Marco Polo number the islands along the coast of 
Asia by the thousands ? Surely he must now be 
among them ; hence it would not be wise to diverge 
from the shore, which must be Cathay, the territory of 
the Grand Khan. How like fairy-land, and therefore 
how like the supposed India, these verdant islands were. 
Those sweet odors borne on every breeze surely sug- 



248 



HARD SAILING. 



gested the land of spices. Here was the luxuriant 
foliage and the magnificent flora of the tropics. The 
stately groups of flamingoes clad in bright scarlet, 
and the tortoises coming from an ^'g^ not unlike that 
of a hen and growing to the size of a soldier's buckler, 
are all reminders of the grandeur of the Orient. 

But the navigation is exceedingly difiicult. Now 
the keels of the ships grate on the sand, now thump 
against rocks, and now a counter-current fairly turns 
the small crafts about. They sail successivel}^ to every 
point of the compass. Every foot of the way must be 
tested. The man at the roundtop must keep a sharp 
lookout every minute, the lead must be throv/n con- 
tinually, and not infrequently the channel becomes so 
narrow that the sails must be dropped and the vessels 
towed on b}^ means of the row-boats ; and still they ran 
aground, and were gotten off with great labor. 

The weather, too, was very peculiar. At sunrise 
the wind blew from the east, and it followed the course 
of that great luminar}^ throughout the day. At sunset 
it was calm. But very soon thunder-clouds gathered, 
with sheets of lightning and rumbling in the distance. 
As the moon arose a breeze came off the land scatter- 
ing these threatening cloud-banks with a mere shower. 
This order of phenomena was an every-da}^ occur- 
rence. 

But while vegetable life of the greatest variety and 
beauty abounds in these islands, and birds of the most 
brilliant plumage and those charming in song are 
multitudinous, neither voice nor form of any human 
being is to be discovered. For days they sail amidst 
a magmficent solitude. At length, on the 2 2d of May, 



NOVEL FISHING. 249 

they find human habitations on one of the islands, but 
they are completely deserted. As usual, the Indians 
have fled in terror at the strange sight of the ships. 
Let us tarr}^ for a few moments in these remote habi- 
tations of the American savage. Here is an abundance 
of fish, that staple article of food with primitive 
man. Outside are piles of " kitchen middens," 
mostl}^ tortoise shells. As living domestic appur- 
tenances, here are tame parrots chattering and flamin- 
goes stalking about. Those dumb dogs, found else- 
where as we have seen, are being fattened for food, 
and are as savory to the Spaniards as " kids in 
Castile." 

As they go on tlie}^ discover the natives in the act of 
fishing, and very remarkable, indeed, is the process. 
Somewhat after the manner of ancient falconry, they 
are making one kind of fish catch other kinds. The 
Histoire claiming to be written by Fernando Columbus 
says: "They had tied some small fishes they call revcs 
by the tail, which run themselves against other fishes, 
and with a certain roughness which the}^ have from 
the head to the middle of the back they stick so fast 
to the next fish they meet that when the Indians perceive 
it, drawing their line, the}^ draw them both together, 
and it was a tortoise our men saw so taken by these 
fishermen, that fish clinging about the neck of it, where 
they generally fasten, being b}^ that means safe from 
the other fish biting them. I have seen them fasten 
upon vast sharks." This mode of fishing has been 
reported by other navigators, and occurs also in other 
parts of the world — for instance, at Mozambique, on the 
east coast of Africa, and at Madagascar. The " i*ough- 



250 



INTELLIGENCE OF THE NATIVES. 



ness " wiiicli these capturing fishes liave " from the 
head to the middle of the back" is said to consist of 
suckers, which become attached to the throat of the 
fish to be caught, or the under shell of a tortoise, and 
adhere so firmly that very large game may thus be 
secured. 

When the natives were done fishing they came to 
the Spaniards in the most fearless manner and inquired 
what they were after. They also offered them their 
supply of fish just taken and about everything else 
they had, but Columbus was content with taking 
simply the fish, for which he paid them. 

Wearied with the dif&culties of navigation in this 
archipelago, the Admiral at length emerged into the 
open sea and steered toward a mountainous part of the 
coast of Cuba. Here, June 3d, he found a considerable 
village of the natives. They were exceedingly pacific 
and communicative. Columbus thought them even 
more cordial than the inhabitants of the other islands. 
They also seemed to give special attention to their 
domestic animals, which were in better condition than 
others found in those regions. While the crews took 
in water, intercourse went on with the venerable 
cacique and other aged men around him, and the inter- 
view was most impressive. " Was Cuba an island ? " — 
the most vital question now, of course, with the Ad- 
miral. The cacique answered that he was an old man 
and had known other old men in his time who under- 
stood such matters, and he had never heard it said that 
it had any end. Others thought that a ship could not 
reach^the end of it in forty moons. But the province 
of Mangon lay just to the westward, and there the 



HA PPT DA rS OF THE VO TA GE. 251 

people could inform liim further. Mangon ! — most 
significant sound to the ear of the Admiral. That 
must be " Mangi " ! the celebrated province of the 
Grand Khan. He must know all about IMangon. And 
right well can these natives inform him. They know 
that these people of Mangon have tails, and wear long 
garments to cover them up. Why else should they 
wear clothing ? Surel}^ there was nothing in nature 
of which to be ashamed ? How striking ! Did not 
Sir John Mandeville sa}^ that the inhabitants of Mangi 
had tails, and so, contrary to the custom of their rude 
neighbors, wore long clothing ? Surely now he must 
be approaching Tartar}^ ! 

After being well feasted on the fat pigeons furnished 
by the natives, the squadron sailed away into an 
immense stretch of open sea along the charming- 
mountainous coast. Everything was now bright with 
hope. These illusive hours constituted some of the 
most gala-days of poor Columbus. Bach day repeats 
the same delectations. The ever-varying landscape of 
mountain, valley, river, and peaceful Indian village is 
on the right. The clear, dark sea, dark because of its 
great depth, reaches away to the horizon on the left. 
At every headland and in every bay the natives 
anticipate them. They come out in their swift canoes 
laden with fruits and the good things of the land gen- 
erally. The}^ even swim out to the ships in order to 
meet these people from heaven. The evening breezes, 
with their soft showers, bring sweet odors from the 
land, and the still sweeter songs of the jubilant villagers, 
feasting and dancing at this great event of the arrival 
of the ships from the skies. The Admiral is living in 



252 



FRIAR OF ST. MART OF MERC/, 



the ver}^ third heaven of hope and joy, the balmy 
nights passing as if they were bnt a single honr. 

After passing the beautifnl Gulf of Xagua, thej^ sail 
into water white as milk, from the fine sand kept afloat 
by the agitations of the water. Then come numerous 
islands again, as numerous as the Gardens of the 
Queen, and the navigation is exceedingl}^ difiicult. 
The smallest caravel going ahead, the rest follow with 
the utmost caution. A caravel, sent to the main in 
search of water, reports the shores low and muddy, and 
the trees so thick that they look like a solid wall. A 
<:at could not go on shore at that place. Again they 
are in clear open water, and steer for the mountainous 
coast. They anchor in a fine harbor in order to fill 
the water-casks. 

The wood-choppers are cutting their wood, and the 
drawers of water filling their casks, when one who 
had strayed away into the forest with his cross-bow in 
search of game returns in a breathless terror. He 
has met a most weird and startling sight — some one 
in a long white garment, looking like a grave friar of 
St. Mary of Mere}'. Two others followed with white 
frocks down to their knees, and a little farther away 
were coming about thirty similar personages, armed 
with clubs and lances. Nor were they the common 
tawny skins of the island, but of fair complexion like 
Europeans. 

At this startling report all the hewers of wood and 
drawers of water fled in utmost precipitation to the 
ships. 

But the story had no ghostly alarm for Columbus. 
It was but another item in the remarkable list of cor- 



A LION OR A GRIFFIN. 253 

respondence between his findings and the accounts of 
Mandeville and Polo. These must, indeed, be the 
people of Mangi, who put on clothes in order to cover 
their tails. On the following day some forty, under 
arms, were hustled off into the wild interior in search 
of these people dressed in white. And they must go 
till they find them, even if the journey be forty miles. 
A dismal tramp this party had through almost impene- 
trable forests, over broad plains of gigantic grasses 
and shrubbery, where there was not even the track of 
a wild beast. ' Scarcely more than a mile had they 
gone, when they became almost exhausted and were 
obliged to return. 

The next day another party was sent out in a 
different direction. They travelled but little farther 
than their comrades of the day before, and with no 
better result. The}- very soon became alarmed at the 
tracks of some huge animal in the sand, the sharp 
claw-prints of which were indicative of the lion to 
some, while others thought them the footprints of the 
griffin, a fabulous animal, having the body and claws 
of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. This 
creature had been frequently referred to b}^ Cardinal 
Iliaco, that favorite author of Columbus ; and Glanville, 
in a work well known to him, had described it as keep- 
ing guard over the mountains abounding in gems and 
gold. On their return, the party was startled by a 
flock of huge cranes, twice the size of those in Kurope. 
How aromatic were the impenetrable forests, and the 
shrubbery of the meadows was most charmingly 
festooned with the wild-grape vine, laden with fruit. 
Like the ancient spies sent by Moses into Canaan, wha 



254 



MOUNTAINS IN THE DISTANCE. 



returned with the grapes of Bschol, the Spaniards came 
hearing the luscious native fruit. 

As to the people in long white garments, they were, 
without doubt, a flock of great white herons, so 
common in that region ; and the tracks in the sand — 
"tracks of some very large beast, with five claws (a 
terrible sight !) which they judged to be lion's, or grif- 
fin's, or some other wild beast " — were probably those 
of the alligator. How much natural history has done 
to solve the m3^steries of the superstitions of former 
times ! 

As the account given by Bernaldez, who appears to 
have talked this whole matter over with Columbus at his 
fireside, is here particularly lucid, we will copy a few 
paragraphs from him. He says : " The Admiral, hav- 
ing thus crossed over from Point Serafin, where the 
land declined towards the east to the mountains at 
the north, followed the coast back towards the east till 
he saw that it joined the other and was continuous 
with it, and then turned again to the west ; and, al- 
though both the vessels and the men were much worn 
by the voyage, he proposed to sail for some mountains 
which he had seen in the west at the distance of thirty- 
five leagues from the place where they had taken in 
their supply of water. After they had gone nine 
leagues, they came to a beach, where they captured the 
cacique of the region, who, being an ignorant person 
that had never been away from these mountains, told 
them that towards the north the sea was very deep for 
a very great distance. They weighed anchor, and 
proceeded on their voyage very joyful, thinking to 
find it as he had said. But, after sailing several 



PRES TER JOHN I / 255 

leagues, they found themselves entangled among a 
number of islands, with very little depth of water, so 
that they could not find a convenient channel by which 
to go on. After making their way for a day and a 
half through a very narrow and shallow channel, they 
were obliged to drag the vessels, by means of their 
anchors and capstans, over the bottom, nearly a 
fathom out of water, for two full leagues, after which 
they found two fathoms and a half of water, in which 
they sailed for two days, and farther on three fathoms. 
At this place there came to the vessels many canoes, 
the people in which said that the inhabitants of those 
mountains had a king of great authority, and the}'- 
seemed to be wonderfully impressed with the extent of 
his dominion and the greatness of his power, saying 
that he had infinite provinces, that he was called 
' Holy,' and that he wore a white tunic, which trailed 
upon the ground." How suggestive ! Must this not 
indeed be Prester John ? 

"They pursued their course along the coast, in three 
fathoms of water, for four days, in which they passed 
the mountains, leaving them far to the east, and al- 
ways found the shore low and the trees growing close 
to the water's edge, as has been described, so that it 
was impossible to effect a landing. At the end of this 
time, the vessels being in a bay where the coast turned 
again to the east, they saw upon a cape, at twenty 
leagues distance, some very high mountains, which 
the Admiral determined to visit, since the sea was not 
open towards the north, and was of very great depth, 
as the cacique had said, who also told the Admiral 
that in the way in which he was going he would not 



256 PALM GROVES AND PEARLS. 

come to the end of the land in fifty leagues — so he had 
heard it said. They sailed within a great many 
islands, and, after four days and nights, came to the 
mountains they had seen, and found a country as large 
as the island of Corsica. They went all around it, 
but found no spot where they could land, the shore 
being very muddy and the trees very thick, as has 
been said of the other places, and the smokes from the 
dwellings of the inhabitants in the interior were large 
and numerous. The}^ remained on this coast seven 
days seeking for fresh water, of which they were in 
want, and which the}^ found at a place towards the 
east, in some beautiful palm-groves, where they also 
found mother-of-pearl and some verj- handsome pearls, 
and saw also that there were excellent fishing grounds, 
if they were only used. After supplying themselves 
with wood and water, the}^ sailed towards the south 
for a considerable distance, following the coast until it 
led them towards the southwest, and appeared to run 
in that direction for a great number of da^^s' sail, and 
at the south they saw the sea filled with islands. The 
vessels were in ver}^ bad condition from thumping 
about in the shallows, their ropes and tackle worn out, 
and most of the provisions much injured, especially 
the biscuit, in consequence of the leakiness of the 
vessels ; and the men, too, were ver}^ much exhausted, 
afraid of their provisions failing, and likewise of the 
winds being, at this season, unfavorable for their 
return." 

Somewhere along here the crews were surprised at 
the great numbers of enormous tortoises, which covered 
the sea in countless numbers. There were also in- 



THE GOLDEN CHERSONESUS. 357 

credibly large flights of cormorants, or sea-crows, 
fairly darkening the sky, and what a sight must have 
been those clouds of brilliant butterflies, which filled 
the air for a whole day, until the evening showers dis- 
persed them. 

As illustrating the enterprising imagination of Co- 
lumbus, Bernaldez saj^s : " While on this voyage, it 
occurred to him that if he should be prospered he 
might succeed in returning to Spain by the east, go- 
ing to the Ganges, thence to the Arabian gulf, thence 
by land from Ethiopia to Jerusalem and to Joppa, 
where he might embark on the Mediterranean, and 
arrive at Cadiz." But this bold suggestion could 
never have been more than a thought — could never 
have been a definite and determined plan. 

But that magnificent shore, stretching away inimit- 
ably to the southwest, just as Marco Polo had de- 
scribed India, must lead to the Golden Chersonesus 
so attractive to the ancients — that country now sup- 
posed to be the peninsula of Malacca. But the Admiral 
was confronted by stubborn facts — hungry, tired 
sailors and worn-out, leaky ships. Besides, who in all 
these crews — some eighty souls — shared his enthusiasm 
in Oriental discovery ? Where was there another im- 
agination which could conceive such brilliant pictures 
and such vast schemes as those which were constantly 
arising to his vision ? 

No ; unwilling as he may be, he must turn back ! — 
even though he is so near the west end of the great 
island that " a ship-boy from the masthead might 
have overlooked the group of islands to the south, and 
beheld the open sea beyond," and two or three days 



258 ISLAND OR C0NTINEN7 ? 

further sail would liave rounded Cape San Antonio. 
How different then would have been his geographical 
conceptions, which remained a grand delusion till the 
day of his death ! How vastly different might have 
been his exploring expeditions in the few after years 
of his life ! 

Yet the ships do not turn about easily, teredo-bored 
and crazy though they be. Many an eager look is 
cast down along that immense trend of southwest 
coast. What if it should prove to be the Golden 
Chersonesus just under the ships' prows ? Or what 
if they were, indeed, only nearing the end of an im- 
mense island ? 

But this must surely be the eastern extension of a 
continent — the continent of Asia. Had they not 
coasted three hundred and thirty leagues westward, 
according to the estimates of the pilots ? Who had 
ever heard of an island of such immense magnitude ? 
And did not everything, especially that great extent 
of southwestward coast-line, correspond to an iota with 
the descriptions and accounts of India as given by 
Polo and Mandeville ? Aye, those columns of smoke 
arising here and there throughout the mountains and 
hills of the interior might be from the fires of the 
ruder outlying parts of Mangi and Cathay. 

But in a matter so important, so vital to the magni- 
tude of his enterprises, he will not depend merely upon 
his own opinion in making out an ofiicial report to the 
court of Spain. Every soul in the three ships must 
record his conviction under oath. Who could tell what 
crookedness and perverseness there might be in bring- 
ing home to the King and Queen the reports of so 



A STRANGE OATH. 



259 



many ? A public notary, therefore, is sent, with four 
witnesses, to take tlie judgment of each one, from cap- 
tain to ship-boy, under oath. At this distance of four 
centuries, and in this light of the end of the nineteenth 
century, the proceedure is simply ridiculously absurd, 
appearing, as one has said, like attempting " to estab- 
lish a geographical fact by a certificate under oath." 
Possibly if we had stood on the deck of one of the 
ships of the little fleet, conscious of the touch and 
influence of all the circumstances, we might at least 
modify our judgment. 

But if the act of administering the oath is of doubt- 
ful wisdom, the penalties annexed to any opposite 
opinion expressed afterwards is still more objectionable. 
It was formally announced by the notary that if any one 
dared to falsify this expression of conviction, if an 
ofiicer he should pay a penalty of ten thousand niara- 
vedis, and if a private he should receive a hundred 
lashes and have his tongue cut. This word "^?^/'-- has 
generally been rendered " 67^/ (9/^/," which is straining 
the meaning. If we fall back upon the customar}^ 
treatment of liars in Spain — and it was lying and not 
changing of opinion that was to be punished — we shall 
find that it was to slit the end of the tongue. This, 
then, was what Columbus meant by having the tongue 
*' cutP And. considering: that this event belonofed to 
the age of Torquemada and the Inquisition, the penalty 
was by no means severe. 

The sorrowful faces of the crews became more cheer- 
ful on June 13th, as the ships stood to the southeast for 
Hispaniola. The}^ were passing through a labyrinth 
of keys, which were almost impenetrable to a sailing 



26o HARD SAILING 

craft. Very soon a large and majestic island, now 
known as the Isle of Pines, loomed up in tlie midst of 
countless islets. Anchoring here for wood and water, 
they soon bore to the east, along the south side of the 
island, hoping to find an open passage south of the 
innumerable islands they had encountered sailing west- 
ward, and also intending to explore the south shore of 
Jamaica en route. 

But his crews seem to have been greatly dismayed 
at this indirection ; he therefore sailed through the 
islands back to Cuba over the white sea noticed before. 
The way was exceedingly toilsome, and the crews 
were in the most unhapp}^ mood. Nor did the loss of 
ten days in testing a new passage, and the slim allow- 
ance of a pound of mouldy bread and a few swallows of 
wine per day to a man, tend to the increase of cheer- 
fulness. On June 30th, as they were toiling through 
the most perplexing channels, the Admiral's ship struck 
bottom with such violence as to alarm all. The anchor 
was sent out astern to free her, but they finally had to 
drag her across the shoal with great effort. 

Now they are again sailing along the clear coast of 
Cuba, in sight of the delightful province of Ornafay. 
Like Humboldt, hundreds of years later, they are de- 
lighted with the fragrant odors wafted out on the sea. 

May not this hungry, tired crew now have a little 
rest and refreshment? With what joy the}^ cast an- 
chor, July 7th, in the mouth of a beautiful river. 
While they are taking in wood and water, the Admiral 
is making the acquaintance of the cacique, who rules 
over a large tract of this charming country. The 
exhausted seamen are delighted with the sweet repose 



HIGH MASS. 261 

of terra firrna. No less grateful is the abundant 
repast furnished by the natives — cassava-bread, utias, 
birds of every kind, including large, fat pigeons, and 
such aromatic, luscious fruits ! 

Nor are the services and ceremonies of religion neg- 
lected. A stately cross is erected in a charming grove, 
and on a bright Sunday morning the impressive 
ceremonies of high mass are celebrated. The cacique 
and his venerable counsellor of four-score 3^ears have 
each taken the Admiral by the hand and led him to 
the grove for worship, the latter having presented to 
him a string of mystic beads and a calabash of the 
finest fruit. The natives stand around in groups 
witnessing the solemnities with the utmost awe. 

When all was over, the venerable Indian counsellor 
approached Columbus and made an address which, 
for its profound wisdom and sacred import, is worthy 
to be recorded to the end of time. 

This discourse as given by Bernaldez, who, no doubt, 
received it from the lips of Columbus as a guest at his 
own fireside, is as follows : " He had known how the 
Admiral was going about exploring all the islands in 
these parts and the continent,^ and that his being on 
the continent was known to them. He told the Ad- 
miral that he must not be vainglorious because all 
the people were afraid of him, for that he was mortal, 
like men ; and he began by words and hy signs to 
explain how men were born naked, and how they had 
an immortal soul, and that when any member was 
diseased it was the soul that felt the pain ; that at the 
time of death, and their separation from the body, 

1 Referring, no doubt, to Cuba. 



262 



CELEBRATION OF HIGH MASS. 




INDIAN EL O^ UENCE. 2 63 

these souls felt very great pain, and that they went to 
the King of the heavens, or into the abyss of the earth, 
according to the good or evil they had done and 
wrought in the world." 

Peter Martyr, who, no doubt, reports the results of 
his conversations with the Admiral, gives the words of 
the aged Indian counsellor as follows : "I have been 
advised, most mighty prince, that you have of late 
with great power subdued many lands and regions 
heretofore unknown to you, and have brought great 
fear on all the people and inhabitants thereof, which 
good fortune you will bear with less insolency if 
you remember that the souls of men have two journeys 
after they are departed from this body : the one, foul 
and dark, prepared for such as are injurious and cruel 
to mankind ; the other, pleasant and delightful, or- 
dained for those who, in their lifetime, loved peace and 
quietness. If, therefore, ^^-ou acknowledge yourself to 
be mortal, and consider that every man shall receive 
just rewards or punishments for such things as he 
hath done in this life, you will wrongfully hurt no 
man." 

The Admiral was deeply impressed by this address 
as translated by the Lucayan, and replied to the ven- 
erable man, telling how pleased he was to learn his 
views as to a future state, not having ascertained any- 
thing of the kind from the natives before ; that he had 
been sent to teach them religion, to subdue their 
enemies, the cannibals, and to protect them from all 
harm. Therefore, the harmless and peaceable might 
look to him as their friend and protector. The old 
man, surprised to find that the Admiral was still sub- 



264 ^^ AFFE CTING FARE WELL. 

ject to a higher ruler, was still more astonished to 
learn from the Lucayan the glory of Spain and its 
rulers. Surely that country must be heaven. Would 
not the Admiral take him along with him on his re- 
turn ? But the entreaties of his wife and family were 
such that the aged man was obliged to give up the 
project. 

July 1 6th, Columbus took an affecting farewell of 
the chief and his venerable adviser, and, taking a 
young native as interpreter, found sea-room outside 
the Queen's Gardens on his wa}^ to Hispaniola. But 
he was soon overtaken by a gale, which almost upset 
the crazy vessels, and so strained his caravel as to let 
the water in at every seam and defy the efforts of the 
weary crew at bailing. Anchoring in the shelter of 
Cape Cruz on the iSth, the Spaniards enjoyed the 
renewed hospitality of the natives for three days. As 
the wind was still unfavorable, July 2 2d the ships 
stood across to Jamaica in order to circumnavigate 
that beautiful island. But the coasting of its south 
shore to the east was the toilsome work of nearly a 
month. So untoward was the weather that the 
ships were obliged to anchor under lee of the land each 
night, the head-winds and pelting showers often com- 
pelling them to enter harbor at night where they had 
started out in the morning. Fortunately the natives 
were cordial, and brought them abundant provisions. 
If the leaky crafts and exhausted crews urged Columbus 
homeward, the magnificence of the island, with its 
excellent harbors, strongly attracted him to remain 
and explore the charms of the interior. In one large 
bay, including seven islands and surrounded with 



A ROYAL FAMILY 



265 



native villages, tlie cacique entertained him most 
nobly. 

" The next day the Admiral left the place, and after 
he had already got under sail with a light wind, the 
cacique, with three canoes, came towards the ships in 
such state that I must not omit to describe his 
equipage. One of the canoes was ver}^ l^-^g^j like a 
large //^i-/rt;,^ and much painted ; in this canoe was the 
cacique himself, with his wafe and two daughters, one 
of whom was about eighteen years old, very beautiful, 
•entirely naked, according to the custom of the country, 
and very modest ; the other was younger. There 
were likewise two boys, his sons, and five of his 
brothers, and other kinsmen. Indeed, all the others 
miust have been his kinsmen and subjects. He also 
brought with him in his canoe a man who acted as 
standard-bearer. This man alone stood in the bow^ of 
the canoe, wearing a loose coat of red feathers, re- 
sembling in shape those of our kings-at-arms, and on 
his head a large plume, which looked very well ; and 
in his hand he bore a white banner, without any 
device. Two or three men came with their faces 
painted, all in the same wa}^, and each of these wore 
on his head a large plume, in shape like a helmet, and 
over the face a round tablet as large as a plate, painted 
likewise, and all of them in the same style, for neither 
in these tablets nor in the plumes was there any 
difference ; these carried in their hands a kind of 
musical instrument, upon which they played. There 
were two others, who were also painted, but in a 
different fashion ; these bore two wooden trumpets, 

^ Or yacht. 



266 ROYAL INDIAN ORNAMENTS. 

higlily wrought with figures of birds and other devices,, 
the wood being black and very fine ; each of them 
wore a very handsome hat of green feathers, very 
closely put together, and of very ingenious workman- 
ship. Six others wore hats of white feathers, and 
came in a body as the cacique's guard. 

" The cacique wore suspended from his neck a trinket 
made of copper, which is brought from a neighboring 
island called Guani, and is very fine, resembling gold 
of eight carats ; in shape it was like a fleiir-de-lis^ and 
as large as a plate. He wore also on his neck a string 
of large marble beads, which these people value very 
highly ; and on his head a large open crown of very 
small green and red stones, disposed in order and in- 
termixed with some larger, white ones, so as to look 
very well. He had suspended over his forehead a 
large jewel, and from his ears hung two large plates 
of gold, with rings of very small green beads, and 
although naked he wore a girdle of the same workman- 
ship as the crown, all the rest of his body being 
uncovered. His wife was decked in a similar manner 
and naked, except so much of her person as was 
covered by a bit of cotton not larger than an orange 
leaf. She wore upon her arms, just below the 
shoulders, a roll of cotton like those on the sleeves of 
the ancient French doublets, and another similar roll, 
but larger, she wore on each leg below the knee — like 
the anklets of the Moorish women. The elder and 
more beautiful of the daughters was entirely naked, 
wearing only a girdle of stpnes of a single color, black 
and very small, from which hung something in the 
shape of an ivy-leaf, of green and red stones, embroid- 
ered upon cotton cloth. 



AN AS TO UNDING PR OPOSITION. 



267 



" The large canoe came between the two others and a 
little in advance of them, and as soon as it came up 
with the vessel the cacique came on board and began 
giving to the masters and each of the men something 
from his treasures. This was in the morning and the 
Admiral was at his prayers, knowing nothing of this 
giving of presents or of the purpose of the coming of 
this cacique, who had come at once on board the caravel 
with his followers, and when the Admiral came on deck 
he had sent back his attendants to the land with the 
canoes and they were already at a considerable distance. 
As soon as the Admiral made his appearance the 
cacique came towards him with a very joyful counte- 
nance, addressing him as follows : ' My friend, I have 
resolved to leave my country and go with thee to see the 
King and Queen and the Prince, their son — the two 
greatest lords in the world, whose power is so great that 
they have subdued so mau}^ countries hereabouts by 
means of thee, who art their subject and goest on thy 
conquests by their command. This we have learned from 
those Indians whom thou carriest with thee, and also how 
everywhere the people are wondrously afraid of thee — 
even the Caribs, an innumerable and very brave race, 
whose canoes and dwellings thou hast destroyed, and hast 
captured their wives and children, and slain those of 
them who did not escape by flight. I know that in all 
the islands of this region there is an infinite number 
of people and a vast country, and they all stand in fear 
and great dread of thee, and thou canst do them much 
harm and injury if they do not submit to the great 
King of Castile, thy lord, since thou knowest the people 
of these islands and their weakness, and art acquainted 



268 AN EMBARRASSING SITUATION. 

with the country. And before thou shalt take from me 
my lands and dominions I wish to go with thee in thy 
vessels, with my family, to see the mighty King and 
Queen, thy sovereigns, and the land in which they 
dwell, the richest the most abundant in the world, and 
the wonders of Castile, which are many, as thy Indian 
has told me.' "^ 

The situation was decidedly embarrassing. His 
leaky ships and mouldy bread would afford but poor 
accommodations for these royal personages. He there- 
fore relieved himself of the dangerous draught on his 
scant larder and the overcrowding of his small cabins 
b}^ promising to comply with the cacique's wishes at 
a more opportune season, when he might be going 
directly to Spain. 

On the 2oth of July the Admiral was coasting the 
south side of the western peninsula of Hispaniola. He 
did not recognize the island, however, till a cacique, 
pushing out to the caravels on the 23d, accosted him by 
his title and mixed a little Castilian in his Indian sen- 
tences. But it was still no small matter to get around 
the island. The weather was so severe as to separate 
the ships, and it was near the end of August when the 
Admiral anchored his ship at the tall rock " Alto Velo," 
so named because, in the distance, it resembled a ship 
under sail. This island was only half way along the 
south shore. Here, while the sailors kept lookout for the 
other two vessels, they found the pigeons and other 
birds so tame that they could knock them over with 
sticks. They also killed what they called sea-wolves — 
probably a kind of seal — while these creatures were 

1 Bernaldez. 



AN ECLIPSE OF THE MOON. 



269 



sleeping ou the saud. Being joined finalh' by the 
other two caravels, the}^ proceeded, passing beautiful 
rivers and bays, where the Indian villages could be 
seen in various directions. 

Presently some of the natives came out in canoes to 
greet them. They had seen some of the Spaniards 
recently and reported favorably concerning the colony. 
Being thus encouraged, he landed nine men, who were 
to cross the island and announce his approach to 
Isabella. 

A little further east the weather became so threaten- 
ing that the Admiral took shelter in a channel behind a 
key or islet. An eclipse of the moon enabled him to 
take his longitude. During eight tempestuous daj^s he 
waited here, intensely anxious as to the fate of the 
other vessels, tossed by the tempest he knew not 
whither. In due time, however, the}^ rejoined him, and 
by the 24th of September they had reached the eastern 
end of Hispaniola. Between Hayti and Porto Rico is 
the island of Mona. Here they anchored. 

Even now, with his damaged ships and failing stores 
of provisions, the Admiral " could not get the consent 
of his mind" to put into Isabella without further 
exploration of the Carib islands, lying just away to the 
southeast. But from this undertaking the crews were 
suddenly relieved. Strong as our veteran seaman was, 
blood and nerve could not sustain the stupendous efforts 
of his mind. Trying enough were the hunger, the toil,, 
and the buffeting of storms endured by the ship-boy. 
All of these Columbus shared ; but what were they 
compared with that watchfulness which kept guard 
while others slept? — the sleepless eye that studied the 



270 -^ FEARFUL REACTION. 

Stars by night, and scanned the horizon night and day 
for new islands and continents ? — the consciousness 
that all Spain and the world were gazing upon him ? 
Fernando Columbus says the Admiral had scarcely 
slept three hours in eight days. Columbus himself 
says he was thirty-three days without natural rest. In 
all, this anxious, nervous voyage had lasted five 
months. And, after all, what was it but an immense 
disappointment? Surely it was nothing more than a 
grand uncertainty. What wonder, then, that the reaction 
was too great for the natural forces to sustain? A 
lethargy like a deep sleep came over him. The hand 
was helpless ; the open, fixed eyes were sightless ; 
the perceptive faculties were all dormant ; memory was 
broken off. The little fleet sailed into Isabella bearing 
their commander-in-chief — scarcely more than a dead 
man ! A severe sickness of some five months — the 
same length of time as the voyage— now followed. 




CHAPTER XIII. 

EVENTS ON REACHING ISABELLA. 

NE joy, at least, awaited the Admiral. His 
brother Bartholomew was at his bedside. 
The chase of this affectionate brother, for 
some ten years, in the interests of Christopher — now 
Admiral — is really affecting. Having shared the 
voyage of Bartholomew Diaz along the south coast of 
Africa in i486, in which voyage the Cape of Good Hope 
was discovered,^ he afterwards went to England to 
enlist Henry VII. in favor of his brother's scheme. 
Gobbled up by pirates and reduced to such extreme 
poverty that he was obliged to spend considerable time 
in making maps, charts, etc., ere he could appear before 
that potentate, he was so belated in reaching France 
after his success in England'^ that Paris was already 
aflame with the news of his brother's triumphant 
return from his first voyage. Bartholomew at once 
gained notoriety at the French court, and Charles 
VIII. gave him one hundred crowns to help him back 
to Spain. Here he arrived just after the Admiral had 
set out on his second voyage. Going to the Spanish 
court with his young nephews, who were to be pages 
to the royal household, he was made commander in a 

^This is ascertained from a note, in his iiandwriting, on the margin of his 
brother's famous copy of Cardinal Iliaco's Imago Mtindi. 

- The history of this trip to England is somewhat obscure, but Henry VII. 
seems to have given heed to Bartholomew's interesting map and to have 
favored Christopher's project. 



272 



THE TWO BROTHERS. 



fleet about to sail to the Indies. Here again lie 
arrived too late. The Admiral's little squadron had 
just left for the south side of Cuba. At last the broth- 
ers, so alike in nature and in the aims and purposes 
of life, had met. Tall and stately like his brother, and 
of a ver}^ similar grade of culture, Bartholomew was 
less imaginative, less speculative, more stern and prac- 
tical — less of a genius, more of a man of affairs. We 
shall know him by his career hereafter. Happy hours 
must these two heroic natures have found in each 
other during the long daj^s of convalescence of the 
Admiral. No insignificant chit-chat theirs, but talk 
about something — something of weight to the world. 
The Admiral would want to know all about that tour 
to the Bnglish court, also about that favorable recep- 
tion in Paris. And how were matters in Spain ? The 
boys were at the court and were well, and the Ad- 
miral was still held in high esteem there ; and that 
"bull of extension" which the Pope issued just as 
Columbus had departed on his second voyage ! — how 
completely it would protect Spain against Portugal in 
the full possession of all the pagan countries of the 
Indies which the former might discover. 

But the outlook at Isabella was threatening. The 
great shock of disappointment to the large company 
of adventurers who had come out in the second voyage 
was still keenly felt. The arduous labor, constant 
privation, and slow profits of a pioneer life did not 
suit their notions of making a fortune. Then this for- 
eigner^ Mdio demanded that "if any man did not work 
neither should he eat,'' and who required that hidalgo,, 
priest, and common laborer should all toil alike in 



IMPOSITION ON NATIVES. 



273 



ploughing the field, building the town, and in grind- 
ing at the mill, was, to say the least, very distasteful 
to them. 

But if the colony was in an unhappy mood, the 
natives were in a still more dangerous attitude. The 
instructions given to Margarite by the Admiral as he 
was about to sail for Cuba contained dangerous ele- 
ments, and that leader had precipitated the evil conse- 
quences by neglecting the better clauses, which might 
at least in part have served as a corrective. If he 
were not to anno}^ the natives by impositions, he must, 
on the other hand, make them fear the power of the 
white man ; an4 to turn out some four hundred hungry 
Spaniards to be fed by the slim provisions of the 
natives was presuming a good deal on their hospital- 
ity, especially when we remember Las Casas' state- 
ment, that " one man would consume in a daj^ that 
which would have sufficed three Indian families of 
ten persons each for the space of a whole month." 
But always and everywhere the heinous offence of 
the Spaniards against the natives was that against 
the chastity of their wives and daughters. 

Margarite had given little or no attention to law and 
order or the accomplishing of any good purpose in 
the absence of Columbus. He led out his four hun- 
dred into the beauties and luxuries of the Vega Real 
to revel at pleasure. Their excesses, it would seem, 
were simply a repetition of the affairs of La Navidad 
on a large scale. 

When Diego Columbus, seeing the inevitable conse- 
quences of such evil courses, wrote to IMargarite, warn- 
ing him and reminding him of his charge to explore the 



274 AN EVIL DEPARTURE. 

country and the gold regions, this haughty leader at 
once headed a faction of the Admiral's most bitter 
enemies. And in this wicked enterprise he found an 
able colleague in Father Buil, a Benedictine friar, 
who was proving false alike to his duties as a member 
of the ruling council at Isabella and as chief apostle 
to the heathen natives. 

Under the mild rule of Diego, a better ecclesiastic 
than ruler of a colony, it would seem, these malcontents 
seized two of the ships in the harbor, and, along with 
their accomplices, sailed for Spain. If there w^as great 
relief in being rid of these arch-rebels, there was no 
telling what the evil influence of this Spanish knight 
and high ecclesiastic might be with the sovereigns 
and nobilit}'- at home. Such anticipations were not 
very helpful to the convalescent Admiral. 

But the evil did not depart with the leaders. The 
adherents of Margarite became a sort of banditti, and 
breaking up into small squads infested the country in 
the most lawless manner. The natural indignation of 
the human heart arose among the natives. Acts of 
vengeance, few at first, soon became more common, 
and before long the Indians were planning a combina- 
tion against their intruders. 

The brave and sagacious Caonabo was planning to 
surprise Fort St. Thomas in the mountains with about 
ten thousand warriors armed with clubs, bows and 
arrows, and lances pointed and hardened in the fire. 
But Ojeda, as big in spirit as he was little in body, 
getting clue to his intentions, made solemn vows to 
the Virgin, in the presence of that picture of " Our 
Lady " which he kept on the wall of his chamber, and 



THE SIEGE BROKEN UP. 



275 



put his fifty men under arms, making them bristle along 
the ramparts. Cross-bows and arquebuses told heav- 
ily on naked bodies, and when this spirited leader 
sallied forth here and there with his men in armor 
Caonabo's braves fell almost in rank and file. 

If there was no hope in weapons of war, there 
might be hope in famine. Caonabo stationed his forces 
on every pass, in order to cut off every source of sup- 
ply. This told heavily on the fortress, especiall}- after 
being kept up for thirty days. But Ojeda made fre- 
quent and effective sallies round about, always seem- 
ing to move too quickly to be struck by an}^ Indian 
lance or arrow. By and by the Indians became 
wearied of this protracted and apparently useless effort 
and gradually disappeared in the forests. 

When Caonabo left St. Thomas, filled with admira- 
tion for the tact and dash of Ojeda, it was only to 
mature wider and deeper plans for the destruction of 
the Spaniards. By a careful reconnoitre he ascer- 
tained the weakness of the colony at Isabella. He 
then undertook to unite all the native forces of the 
island against it. This w-as no ver}^ difficult task. 
The conduct of the white men had so broken down the 
original notion of the Indians as to their angelic or 
divine nature, and had so embittered their feelings, 
that there was a general readiness for the uprising. 

It was no small matter for Guacanagari to break 
away from his neighboring chiefs and ally himself to 
the detested strangers, but the confidence of the Ad- 
miral was rewarded by a friendly call from this in- 
teresting savage, during which the former was informed 
of the combination against him and of the cost of the 



276 



WHO SHALL LEAD THE ARMTf 



latter's loyalty — of liis wives, one having been killed 
by Behecliio, and another captured by Caonabo. Thus 
Guacanagari was suffering the enmity of his old native 
colleagues on account of his friendship for the white 
men. The loyalty of this noble-hearted cacique, whose 
large territor}^ was in the immediate vicinity of the 
settlement, was of incalculable importance. 

Columbus was almost without force or even avail- 
able leadership in the midst of this threatening combi- 
nation of the many thousands of enraged natives. He 
was on his sick-bed, there was no one among the 
Spaniards capable of leading the attack, and they 
were jealous of Bartholomew. First a small force was 
sent to the relief of Fort Magdalena, which was in 
danger of falling a prey to Guatiguana, the angry ca- 
cique of the Grand River region. He had recently 
massacred a number of Spaniards, probably for ex- 
cesses committed in his dominions. The expedition 
against him was successful, with the usual Spanish 
excesses, as it would appear, the cacique himself mak- 
ing good his escape. 

As this was a tributary cacique to Guarionex, who 
was known to be amenable to kindly influences, Co- 
lumbus sent for him in order to have a friendly inter- 
view. The Admiral deprecated the licentiousness and 
excesses of the Spaniards as contrary to his wishes 
and intentions, and by means of his remarkable per- 
suasive powers he brought this gentle-hearted savage 
into friendly relations, which he sealed by effecting 
the marriage of the chief's daughter and his Lucayan 
intrepreter, called Diego Colon. This brought him 
into peaceful relations with tha whole Vega Real, 



THE TALKING METAL. 



277 



which he made still more secure by building the 
Fort La Conception. 

But if Guarionex had been brought into friendly 
relations, Caonabo, the powerful cacique of the gold 
regions, could not be conciliated. Much has been 
said as to the dishonorable instructions given by Co- 
lumbus for the capture of this redoubtable chief. But 
here was a pressing necessity, and if war even in our 
day is " cruel " and " cannot be refined," much more 
was it so in that unscrupulous age. Ojeda, with his 
usual " cunning and dash," is the hero of this striking 
episode. He would go as a peaceful embassador to that 
chieftain, thus appealing to his high, chivalrous feel- 
ings. With ten trusty comrades, he w^ould partake of 
his hospitality and propose a journey to Isabella, 
where the savage chieftain was to enter into peaceful 
relations with the Admiral and receive as a gift the 
chapel bell — a great mystery to the natives, since it 
could call the people together. It was made of a talk- 
i7ig metal^ they said, and all brazen, glittering objects 
were associated with this "talking metal." How Cao- 
nabo, when lurking about the woods around Isabella, 
had longed to see this wonderful object, no doubt 
come down from heaven. Surely he would do almost 
anything to have it now as his own. Thus far all 
was well; but what was Ojeda's surprise, on starting 
out, to see a powerful band of warriors ready to march 
in protection of their chief! " Why take such an 
army when going on a friendly visit ?" he asked. " It 
would not do for a prince like himself to go slimly 
attended," he replied. Here was a perplexity. The 
ajBfairs of Isabella were in too weak a condition to have 
a savage army precipitated upon it. 



278 



A TRAP FOR A CHIEFTAIN. 



The authority for the shrewd stratagem now resorted 
to is none other than the venerable Las Casas, who 
arrived at Isabella some six years after the occurrence 
and found a vivid recollection of it among the citizens. 

x\s the Indians and the Spaniards were journeying 
along together they came to a river. Here, as they 
halted, Ojeda displayed a set of steel manacles, so 
highly polished as to resemble burnished silver. 
These ornaments, Ojeda said, came from heaven, and 
were worn by his monarchs at home, at great festivals. 
If Caonabo would first take a bath, he would present 
them to him ; and if he would put them on he might 
ride back on his own horse, to the great astonishment 
of his subjects. Sharp as Caonabo was, he walked 
straight into this trap. Having enjoyed his swim, he 
mounted the horse behind Ojeda, and suffered the 
shining ornaments to be fastened upon him. While 
the chieftain was delighting himself over his lofty posi- 
tion and royal present, Ojeda started, and his com- 
rades followed. They whirl into a circle, which is 
made larger at each round, the frightened natives fly- 
ing pell-mell into the woods in everj^ direction. The 
riders found it easy to escape through the scattered 
bodj^-guard. When far enough away to be concealed 
they halted, closed about their captive, drew their 
swords, and threatened death if he tried to escape. 
Having bound him firmly to Ojeda with cords, they 
put spurs to their horses for Isabella. Fifty leagues 
or more, past large Indian towns, lay between them 
and home. The vast community of native allies must , 
not be excited, so they move with utmost caution and 
pass the towns in full gallop. They are hungr}^ and 



THE ROYAL CAPTIVE. 279 

fatigued, yet they must keep on — fording rivers, cross- 
ing long reaches of plain clothed in gigantic grasses, 
tearing their way through tangled thickets and forests, 
and clambering over rocky hills and mountains. 

But they enter Isabella in triumph, to the great 
delight of Columbus and the colony. The Admiral 
will keep him bound in his own house till he can send 
him as a prisoner to Spain, passers-by gazing at him 
from the street. Truly a lesson in human life is this 
Carib of the mountains. He will not humble himself 
in the presence of the Admiral, nor take the least 
notice of him. He boasts of his massacre of La Navi- 
dad, and acknowledges his intent of treating Isabella 
in like manner. Why does he rise to his feet and pay 
the profoundest respect to Ojeda when he enters the 
room, but never deign to notice the Admiral ? The 
latter did not dare to attack him in his mountain fast- 
ness, but the former was heroic enough to make him a 
captive. His face is hard as the mountain rocks. 
True to the nature of the savage, he will show no 
sign of grief or despair, but w411 be brave and unyield 
ing to the end. 

While Columbus was still on his sick-bed, Bartholo- 
mew acting as deputy, under the title of adelantado, 
Antonio Torres arrived from Spain with four ships, 
bringing a new physician, medicines, artificers and 
gai'deners. Was there not hope now that the sick 
might be cured and that the rich resources of the soil 
might be developed ? 

Then that letter from the sovereigns, dated August 
1 6th — how comforting it must have been ! Not only 
had the Pope's line of demarcation been settled once 



28o ENCOURAGING WORDS. 

and for all between Spain and Portugal — 370 leagues 
west of the Cape de Verde Islands, but they wished 
him to come himself or to send some one to them capa- 
ble of running this boundary line, which they hoped 
might pass through some island, where a monument 
could be raised. And did they not owe all this im- 
mense addition to their dominions to the genius and 
perseverance of the Admiral ? Equally opportune was 
the letter of the sovereigns to the colonists command- 
ing strict obedience to the authority and to all the 
wishes of the Viceroy, under penalty of ten thousand 
maravedis for each offence. As the Admiral could 
not go, Diego, his brother, was chosen to return, armed 
with maps, charts, etc., to help in respect to the Pope's 
line. Torres' ships must go back as soon as possible, 
bearing something which might be regarded as an 
adequate return for the liberal supplies brought out. 
But what should it be ? There was but little gold ; a 
variety of new fruits and spices, indeed, and samples 
of the more common metals ; but these, all put together, 
were but a sorry cargo for such a fleet to take back to 
the expectant nation, all eyes being turned to the fab- 
ulous resources — gold, pearls, gems, spices, silks — of 
the Indies. 

In this terrible emergency, why not imitate Portu- 
gal, making herself wealthy in the now well-estab- 
lished African slave-trade ; or Spain herself, who 
enriched her coffers from the sale of the vanquished 
Moors, taking not only men under arms, but thousands 
of peaceful peasants and helpless women and children ? 
True, this very fleet had just brought the decline of the 
sovereigns to a proposed slavery of the Caribs, in his 



A SHIP-LOAD OF SLAVES. 281 

famous " Memorial," the humane heart of Isabella 
asking if the evangelization of these heathen canni- 
bals could not be accomplished "in some other way;" 
but had not the casuistry of the church decided in favor 
of the enslavement of the heathen by Christian nations, 
that thus their benighted souls might come under the 
illuminating influences of Christianity ? Anyhow, 
necessit}^ knows no law, so here files the long train of 
poor Indian prisoners of war into the ships — five hun- 
dred of them going to Spain to be sold in exchange 
for cattle, farm implements, seeds, etc. ! If the scene 
could have been photographed, would we want the 
picture ? Alas for the tender mercies of a Christian 
civiliz.ation four hundred j^ears ago ! 

But let us not lay all the responsibility of this sad 
scene upon Christopher Columbus. He was simpl}^ 
in line with the public — or we may say Christian — 
sentiment of his time. Had his conceptions of human 
freedom been as far in advance of his age as were his 
views in cosmography, he might have illustrated in 
his personal history the noble and humane principles 
of Las Casas ; but we can scarcely look for an advanced 
example of all the great virtues in one man. 

And now one scene of miser}^ crowds upon the heels 
of another. The fleet laden with poor unfortunates 
bound for the slave-markets of Spain was barel}'- out 
at sea, when the suffering natives had massed them- 
selves in the Vega Real — Las Casas thinks a hundred 
thousand of them — to wage war against their foreign 
oppressors. And what had Columbus to bring out 
against this duskj^ host, bristling with bows and arrows, 
war-clubs, and rude lances, pointed and hardened in 



282 THE BATTLE ARRAY. 

the fire ? Two hundred foot and twenty horse ! But 
they were trained warriors, well armed, cased in steel, 
and shielded by bucklers. The Admiral, barely up 
from a sick-bed, took the lead, aided by Bartholomew 
and Ojeda, April 25, 1495. Guacanagari followed 
along with his naked warriors, but they were little 
more than spectators in this swift destruction. 

They climbed up the Gentleman's Pass, and de- 
scended into the magnificent Vega Real — alas ! no 
longer the earthly paradise of ease, peace, and plenty, 
but the rendezvous of many thousands of angry sav- 
ages. These were led by Manicaotex, brother of the 
brave Caonabo. When, according to their custom, the 
Indian spies, unskilled in the science of numbers, 
returned with a mere handful of corn, each grain 
representing a man in the enemy's army, the caciques 
laughed at the insignificance of their eiieniies as com- 
pared with their own immense numbers. But the little 
Spanish army of foot, divided into detachments, 
rushed upon them in front, flank, and rear at the same 
instant, with the deafening noise of drums, trumpets, 
and fire-arms. Steel lances, swords, cross-bows, and 
arquebuses were too much for the naked Indians. 
They pressed together in utmost confusion. At the 
same moment, Ojeda dashed among them with his 
twenty war-horses, striking right and left with sabre 
and lance. While the horses were trampling down 
the bleeding victims the fierce blood-hounds rushed 
upon them, dragging them down into the dust by the 
throat and " tearing out their bowels." The terrific 
shrieks and yells of the poor mortals were indescriba- 
ble. From rocks and precipices they begged for quar- 



WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE ? 285 

ter most piteously. Vast numbers were killed, still 
more were made prisoners, and the immense Indian 
army was scattered and broken up as if alike by thun- 
der and lightning from heaven and by fiends let 
loose upon them from the infernal pit. 

Who was responsible for this horrid slaughter? 
Surel}^ not the simple-hearted, generous natives, for 
the}^ were the most amiable of all beings till their hos- 
pitalities and homes were outraged. And shall any 
one sa}^ that this tempest of savage indignation would 
ever have arisen if the plans and instructions of 
Columbus had been carried out from the beginning? 
The uncontrollable excesses of the Spaniards must 
ever be regarded as the cause of all these dire calami- 
ties with the natives. 

The victory in the Vega was now to be followed up 
by crushing out every S3anptom of rebellion in more 
remote parts. Columbus and his warriors therefore 
traversed the island, Ojeda and his horsemen moving 
almost on the wings of the wind to an}?- point which 
might threaten insurrection. One after another, the 
caciques submitted to the inevitable authority. Gua- 
rionex, chief of the Vega, naturall}^ gentle and sub- 
missive, and Manicaotex, Caonabo's valiant brother, 
both made peace, and others followed — all except 
Behechio, chief of the western part of the island ; he 
had not j^et come into personal contact with the Span- 
iards, and his dominions afforded the safest retreat to 
his sister, the beautiful Anacaona, wife of the captive 
cacique Caonabo. 

We now come to one of the worst measures of the 
Admiral's administration in these islands. We must^ 



284 



MUST HAVE GOLD I 



liowever, give due weight to certain motive powers over 
which he had no immediate control. Unwittingly he 
had brought about a great national disappointment. 
He had reported the discovery of the Indies, the country 
of fabulous wealth — the desideratum of the nations. 
But where was the gold, the pearls, the silks ? The 
hundreds of eager fortune-seekers in the Indies had for 
the most part either sickened and died in despair or had 
gone back to Spain to report their disappointment in a 
manner most damaging to his great enterprise. The 
sovereigns, too, expected gold — must have gold ! The 
recovery of the Holy Sepulchre would require gold. 
Somehow gold must be gotten, or the most disastrous 
failure would be insured. Columbus had no doubt but 
there was plenty of the precious metal in the mountains 
and streams of the island, but the ordinary methods 
— owing, no doubt, to the inefficiency of the Spaniards — 
had failed to procure it in encouraging quantities. But 
was there not now an opportunity — providential, per- 
haps — of commanding an immense working force — 
men, women, and children — who knew every nook and 
stream of the mountains, and who had some slight 
experience, at least, in searching and washing out the 
gold ? Then it would be perfectly proper, according to 
all received ideas of church and state, to command and 
compel these heathen captives. How rapidly, how 
magic-like, this great army of native workers might 
accumulate the grains and nuggets of the precious 
metal ! Here, indeed, was a golden dream — one well 
in keeping with the times. 

So every native over fourteen years of age was 
required to deliver a Flemish hawk's bell of gold every 



THE TAX, 



285 



three months — a tax equal, perhaps, to some $15 in our 
time. The caciques were to pay more — Guarionex a 
half-calabash of gold-dust. 

If the Vega Real and other similar rich tracts of the 
island afforded little or no gold, did not cotton — tree- 
wool^ as the German calls it — grow wild on the trees 
and shrubs everywhere ? An arroba — twenty-five 
pounds — of this important product might be taken as 
an equivalent for the hawk's bell of gold-dust. Thus 
the tax — certainly a heavy one for these poor natives, 
all unused to labor and hardship — was arranged. 
Guarionex was much troubled at the exaction, lest his 
people should not be able to comply ; and proposed to 
grow a belt of grain from ocean to ocean across the 
island — enough to provision all Castile for ten years, 
Las Casas thought. 

But this generous offer was rejected, for nothing but 
gold would meet the necessities of the case. If the 
full measure of the hawk's bell^ was too much, it might 
be lessened one-half. 

About this time the sovereigns wrote to Columbus : 
" It appears to us that there should be given to Indians 
with whom it is concerted that they are to pay the tribute 
imposed, a piece or mark of brass coin or lead, which 
they must wear on the nape ; and the figure or mark 
of this said coin must be changed every time they pay, 
in order that it may be known who has not paid ; and 
that whenever and wherever persons are found in the 
island who have not changed the said mark on the 

^ "It is a curious circumstance," says Irving, "and might furnish some 
practical conceits, that the miseries of the poor natives should thus be 
measured out, as it were, by the very baubles which first fascinated them." 



286 THE YOKE OF SERVITUDE. 

nape tliey are to be seized and subjected to some slight 
puuisbment." A copper coin was selected as the 
tribute-sign, to be worn on the neck, the die being 
changed at each payment. If any one had not the tri- 
monthly payment thus certified, he was to be arrested 
and punished. Thus we see that Ferdinand and Isabella 
were in full sympathy with this enactment of Columbus. 

In order that the payment of these tributes might be 
duly enforced, the fortresses were all put in order and 
new ones built — all so located as to keep an effective 
surveillance over the island. 

" In this way," says Irving, " was the yoke of servi- 
tude fixed upon the island, and its thraldom effectually 
insured. Deep despair now fell upon the natives when 
they found a perpetual task inflicted upon them, en- 
forced at stated and frequently recurring periods. 
Weak and indolent by nature, unused to labor of any 
kind, and brought up in the untasked idleness of their 
soft climate and their fruitful groves, death itself 
seemed preferable to a life of toil and anxiety." Nor 
was there anything better to be seen in the future. A 
power which they could not comprehend overshadowed 
them. And these superhuman white men, clad in steel, 
thrusting spears and swords into their flesh, arraying 
the very thunder and lightning against them, robbing 
them of their lands and invading their household hap- 
piness, had come to stay. Else why those great 
houses of most solid structure in wood and stone, 
compared with which their mere wigwams were 
frail as birds' nests ? Their peculiar life of ease 
and peaceful pleasure — one which poets and philosophers 
might envy — with wants the fewest and resources of 



HOPELESS SLA VERT. 



287 



nature the greatest, was now forever passed away. 
Those elysian fields and groves, where they had loitered 
and lounged in the shade by day and sung and danced 
to the sylvan drum b}'- night, were now to be scenes of 
toil and moil and hopeless servitude. " Hewers of 
wood," " drawers of water,'' tillers of the soil, miners 
in the mountain and stream, they must bend to the 
severest labor throughout the day, and lie down in 
weariness and despair at night. Their song and dance, 
once the very expression of a light and a joyous heart, 
now degenerated into the mere voice and movement of 
melancholy. They even recalled prophecies in which 
their ancestors had foretold the advent of strangers, 
clothed and bearing swords which could divide one 
asunder at a blow, who should conquer and enslave 
their posterity. 

But these foreigners, apparently more than human 
— whether demons or angels, it was hard to tell — 
these beings must eat and drink, and seemed very 
dependent on them for these daily necessities. Herein 
might lie the secret of their power — they would starve 
these white men out. They, the natives, could live 
on the roots and herbs and scattered fruits of the 
mountains, and could find shelter in the caves among 
the rocks. So away they went, father, mother, and 
child, to try the desperate experiment. But there was 
more in the undertaking than they, in their sim- 
plicity of heart, had taken into the account. The 
white men suffered, indeed, for want of the immediate 
service and supplies of the Indians, but they had all 
Spain back of them, and the distance across the ocean 
was every day becoming shorter and less formidable. 



288 STARVING OUT THE SPANIARDS. 

The Indians, especially the aged, the infirm, the 
mother with her infant on her back, and the still more 
helpless little one, found scanty and insufficient fare 
when so far awa}^ from the fertile valleys, and the 
chill and dampness of the mountain air was too severe 
for most of them in their naked exposure to the 
elements. 

But even in this miserable resort they could not 
escape their oppressors. They were hunted like game 
in their mountain fastnesses, and those escaping sick- 
ness and death were brought back by force to toil in 
the fields and in the mines. The robustness and the 
irrepressible mirthfulness of the African may enable 
him to bear up under the great wrongs of enslavement, 
but the frail, moody, melancholy Indian, dependent 
upon the ease and leisure of savage life, upon that 
sweetness of nature which is taken into the soul by 
quiet observation and reflection, sickens and dies 
under its trials and hardships. The natives of the 
islands became a broken-hearted people, and vanished, 
as we shall see, like snow under the sunny days of 
spring. 

But the saddest item in this dark picture of the 
suffering natives is the final fate of that kind-hearted 
cacique, Guacanagari. His people, along with the 
rest, found the tax ver}^ grievous ; and, as he had 
always been the special friend and ally of the white 
man, he was marked down by his whole race as an 
aid to their calamities. Nor does it seem that any 
discrimination was ever made in favor of him or his 
people by the Spaniards. All bore alike the crushing 
weight of tax and toil and final slavery. How could 



SAB FATE OF GUACANAGARI. 289 

one of his generous and sensitive nature endure the 
pains and cries of his people, the contempt and hatred 
of the multitudes of hopelessl}^ afflicted natives, and 
the vile ingratitude of these strangers, whose power to 
crush and destroy seemed unlimited ? He, too, fled 
to the mountains, and there died, broken hearted, in 
some lonely haunt. 

Irving excuses Columbus in respect to this melan- 
choly event on account of his own sufferings and his 
long detention in Europe at the time. This excuse is 
worthy of consideration, and, in view of the cruel cus- 
toms of the times, we are inclined to make the most 
of it ; and yet there is no denying or obscuring the 
fact that the " Admiral of the Ocean Seas " did not 
anticipate the humane conceptions of the nineteenth 
century. His policy sacrificed the natives of His- 
paniola to that insatiable greed for gain in the Spanish 
nation which, at this hour, was such an imminent 
peril to him and his enterprise. 

Where is the heart that will not ache and bleed at 
the review of such scenes of human suffering ? On 
whom does this great wrong rest ? Not on any one 
individual alone ; certainly not on Columbus par- 
ticularly, though he must forever bear his share of 
guilt and sin against the most sacred rights of 
humanity. To determine the rights of the savage 
when civilized man has once set foot on his soil has 
never been an easy question, and is by no means 
solved at the present time. And with our sense of 
obligation to human freedom and the relief of human 
suffering it is not easy to judge the moral sense, con- 
science, and degree of guilt in these far different 



2^0 THEN AND NO W. 

sentiments and circumstances of four hundred years 
ago. In an age when the highest religious conscious- 
ness of an enlightened Christian nation could justify 
the horrors of the Inquisition we must not be too 
severe on a sailor and self-made man, growing up 
amidst the more or less piratical enterprises then com- 
mon to the high seas. Between the sentiments and 
convictions of this end of the nineteenth century and 
those of the latter part of the fifteenth there is an in- 
calculable distance. We have at least had the immense 
moral illuminations of the Reformation of the six- 
teenth century since then. After all, are not the 
strong humanitarian sentiments so characteristic of our 
ovv'u time of comparative recent origin ? 

Before accompanying Columbus on his third voj^age 
it will be necessary to notice an enterprise in another 
part of the world, fraught with the greatest con- 
sequences to this continent. We have alread}^ had 
occasion to notice that Bartholomew Columbus had been 
sent to make overtures to Henry VII. of England in 
behalf of his brother Christopher's grand scheme in 
anticipation. Whatever the King may have thought 
of this man of the " red earth," with his map so 
strangely garnished with verses — whether he thought 
him to be building " castles in the. air," or to indicate 
some great enterprise well worthy of attention — there 
was soon to arise among his people a citizen of foreign 
birth and accent who should open the way to this new 
world about to be discovered on the other side of the 
globe for the establishment of the English language, 
civilization, enterprise, and formulas of the Christian 
religion. Spain nuw unfurl her banner and plant the 



JOHN CABOT. 291 

cross on the islands and outlying shores of the new 
hemisphere, but the little island of the Tudor kings 
will give birth to the nation and the people about to 
occup_v the heart of a great continent and develop a life 
of such unprecedented freedom and prosperity as shall 
become the desideratum of all mankind. 

For many years Bristol, noted for its commercial 
enterprise, had been the point of departure for ships to 
the Iceland fisheries, thus carrying on an extensive 
trade with the Norsemen, and for nearly a score of 
years she had been sending out expeditions in search 
of the fancied island, Brazil, and that of the Seven 
Cities, supposed to be somewhere to the west of Ireland. 
In Bristol, as in Spain and Portugal, Genoa was rep- 
resented. John Cabot, though having spent in Venice 
the fifteen years necessary to gain citizenship,^ claimed 
her as his birthplace ; and w^hen the news arrived that 
Christopher Columbus, a fellow-townsman by birth, 
had reached the Indies by sailing to the west, this 
" foreign-born " citizen of Bristol — this merchant-sailor — 
seeing that the achievement was regarded as " more 
divine than human," felt in himself " a great flame of 
desire to attempt something notable." 

Many years before, while in Arabia, he had inquired 
of a caravan laden with spices whence these commod- 
ities had come. Having traced them from hand to 

^John Cabot is called by his contemporaries a Venetian, and more es- 
pecially a citizen of Venice, because citizenship, once accorded only to the 
nobility or privileged class, afterwards, when the plague set a premium on 
population, extended to one who married a Venetian woman, and then again 
was restricted to those having resided for fifteen years consecutively in the 
city of Venice. The Senate, in 1476, admitted Cabot to the ordinary and 
extra privileges of citizenship by virtue of a residence of fifteen years. 

See Harrisse, Jean et Sebastian Cabot, p. 2. 



292 HE IMITATES COLUMBUS. 

hand into tlie far east, his thoughts had been aroused to 
the desideratum of oriental trade. Whether previously 
impressed with the sphericity of the earth or not, he 
was soon capable of contemplating or even making a 
globe ; and he could thus conceive the practicability of 
a western route to the land of spices. Before January 
of 1496 he had applied to the King of England for aid 
to undertake a voyage similar to that of Columbus. 
Notification to this effect was sent home to the sov- 
ereigns by Puebla, the Spanish embassador, and before 
they could send back their warning, that such an enter- 
prise would be an infringement on the rights of Spain 
and Portugal, the English King had issued his patent to 
Cabot and his three sons, including Sebastian, that they 
might " sail to the east, west, or north, with five ships 
carrying the English flag, to seek and discover all the 
islands, countries, regions, or provinces of pagans in 
whatever part of the world," provided they would return 
to the port of Bristol and give the King one-fifth of the 
profits. Permission to sail south was not granted them, 
lest they should encounter the enterprises of Spain, or 
possibly Portugal. 

On a May morning, 1497, ^^^ ^^^ solitary ship, 
named the Matthew^ sailed away to the northwest 
with eighteen men onboard. Probably Sebastian accom- 
panied his father. As two letters, well authenticated, 
indeed, but of comparatively recent finding, tell about 
all that is certainly known of this voyage, and as the 
letters are exceedingly quaint and interesting, we will 
here quote them. The first is from Lorenzo Pasqualigo, 
a London merchant, to his brothers in Venice, August 
23, 1497, ^^^^5 slightly abridged, reads as follows : 



PAS^UALIGO'S LETTER. 293 

"The Venetian, our countryman, who went with a 
ship from Bristol, is returned, and says that 700 leagues 
hence he discovered land in the territorj^ of the Grand 
Cham. He coasted 300 leagues and landed, saw no 
human beings, but brought to the King certain snares 
to catch game, and a needle for making nets ; was three 
months on the vo3'age. The King has promised that 
in the spring our countryman shall have ten ships. 
The King has also given him money wherewith to 
amuse himself till then, and he is now in Bristol with 
his wife, who is also a Venetian, and with his sons. 
His name is Zuan Cabot, and he is styled the Great 
Admiral. Vast honor is paid him. The discoverer 
planted on his new-found land a large cross, with one 
flag of England and one of St. Mark, by reason of his 
being a Venetian." '•' '^ '" (Venetian Calendars, i, 
262.) The same author says that Cabot, the Grand 
Admiral, was " dressed in silk, and the English ran 
after him like crazy men." 

The other letter is by Raimondo de Soncino to the 
Duke of Milan, written from London and found in the 
state archives of Milan : 

" Mosl Illustrious and Excellent My Lord : 

" Perhaps, among your Excellency's many occupa- 
tions, it may not displease you to learn how his 
Majesty here has won a part of Asia without a stroke 
of the sword. There is in this kingdom a Venetian 
fellow. Master John Caboto by name, of a fine mind, 
greatly skilled in navigation, who seeing that those 
most serene kings, first he of Portugal, and then the 
one of Spain, have occupied unknown islands, deter- 
mined to make a like acquisition for his Majesty afore- 



294 RAIMONDO DE SONCINO'S LETTER. 

said. And having obtained royal grants that he 
should have the usufruct of all that he should discover, 
provided that the ownership of the same is reserved to 
the Crown, with a small ship and eighteen persons he 
committed himself to fortune ; and having set out from 
Bristol, a western port of this kingdom, and passed 
the w^estern limits of Hibernia,^ and then standing to 
the northward he began to steer eastward," leaving (after 
a few days) the North star on his right hand ; and, 
having wandered about considerably, at last he fell in 
with terra firrna^ where, having planted the royal 
banner and taken possession on behalf of this King 
and taken certain tokens, he has returned thence. The 
said Master John, as being foreign-born and poor, would 
not be believed if his comrades, who are almost all 
Englishmen and from Bristol, did not testify that 
what he says is true. This Master John has the 
description of the world in a chart, and also in a solid 
globe which he has made, and he (or the chart and 
the globe) shows where he landed, and that going 
towards the east^ he passed considerably beyond the 
country of the Tanais.^ And they say that it was a 
very good and temperate country, and they think that 
Brazil-wood and silk grow there ; and they affirm 
that that sea is covered with fishes, which are caught 
not only with the net, but with baskets, a stone being 
tied to them in order that the baskets may sink in the 
water. And this I heard the said Master John relate ; 
and the aforesaid Englishmen, his comrades, say that 
they will bring so many fishes that this kingdom will 

1 Ireland. ^ Evidently west. 

* This must mean westward. * This is obscure. 



RAIMONDO DE SONCTNO'S LETTER. 295 

no longer have need of Iceland, from which country 
there comes a verj^ great store of fish, which are called 
stock-fish. But Master John has set his mind on 
something greater, for he expects to go farther on 
towards the east from that place already occupied, con- 
stantly hugging the shore until he shall be over 
against (or "on the other side of") an island by him 
called Cipango, situated in the equinoctial region, 
where he thinks all the spices of the world, and also 
the precious stones, originate ; and he says that in 
former times he was at ]\Iecca, w'hither spices are 
brought b}^ caravans from distant countries, and that 
those who brought them, on being asked where the 
said spices grow, answered that they do not know, but 
that other caravans come to their homes with this 
merchandise from distant countries, and these (cara- 
vans) again say that they are brought to them from 
other remote regions. And he argues thus : that if 
the Orientals affirmed to the southerners that these 
things come from a distance from them, and so from 
hand to hand, presupposing the rotundity of the earth, 
it must be that the last ones get them at the north 
towards the west ; and he said it in such a way that, 
having nothing to gain or to lose b}^ it, I too believe it ; 
and, what is more, the King here, who is wise and not 
lavish, likewise puts some faith in him, for (ever) since 
his return he has made good provision for him, as the 
same Master John tells me. And it is said that in the 
spring his Majesty aforesaid will fit out some ships, 
and will besides give him all the convicts, and they will go 
to that country to make a colony, by means of which 
they hope to establish in London a greater storehouse 



296 



RAIMONDO DE SONCINOS LETTER. 



of spices than there is in Alexandria, and the chief men 
of the enterprise are of Bristol, great sailors, who, now 
that they know where to go, say that it is not a voyage 
of more than fifteen days, nor do they ever have storms 
after they get away from Hibernia. I have also talked 
with a Burgundian, a comrade of Master John's, who 
confirms everything, and wishes to return thither 
because the Admiral (for so Master John already 
entitles himself) has given him an island ; and he has 
given another one to a barber of his from Castiglione, 
of Genoa, and both of them regard themselves as 
counts, nor does my Lord the Admiral esteem himself 
anything less than a prince. I think that with this 
expedition there will go several poor Italian monks, who 
have all been promised bishoprics. And, as I have 
become a friend of the Admiral, if I wished to go thither 
I should get an archbishopric. But I have thought 
that the benefices which your Excellency has in store 
for me are a surer thing ; and therefore I beg that if they 
should fall vacant in my absence, you will cause posses- 
sion to be given to me, taking measures to do this rather 
(especially) where it is needed in order that they be not 
taken from me by others, who because they are present 
can be more diligent than I, who in this country have 
been brought to the pass of eating ten or twelve dishes 
at every meal, and sitting at table three hours at a time 
twice a day, for the sake of your Excellency, to whom I 
commend myself. 

" Your Excellency's 

"Very humble servant, 

" Raimondus. 
" London, Dec. 18, 1497." 



CABOT'S SECOND VOYAGE. 



297 



We have preferred to give these letters to our read- 
ers, because they so vividly illustrate the times of Lon- 
don in that most interesting epoch. 

The following year the King was again petitioned 
for letters-patent in pursuance of another voyage. 
The favor was promptly and cordially granted, six 
ships being named for " our well-beloved John Kabotto, 
Venician," '' any statute, acte or ordenaunce to the con- 
trary e made or to be made in any wise notwithstanding." 

It is altogether probable that Sebastian sailed with 
his father's company of, perhaps, three hundred men. 

The flag-ship was accompanied \y three or four small 
ships, in which " divers merchants of London ventured" 
" small stocks," both " slight and gross merchandises, 
as coarse cloth, caps, laces, points, and other trifles."^ 
Evidently this was the joint fleet of Bristol and 
London making for the historical point of departure, 
viz., " Cowes and a market." " These ships did shortly 
after pass gallantly by Greenw^ich, in the King's pres- 
ence, one of the mariners standing upon the main top- 
mast of one of theni."^ One vessel, much damaged by 
a storm, was obliged to put back into an Irish port. 
We hear no more of John Cabot, who was probably 
lost on the voyage, his son Sebastian succeeding to the 
mastership of the squadron. " Those ships," says 
Holinshed, " at the last arrived in the country of Mos- 
covia, not without great loss and danger, and namely 
of their captain, who was a w^orthy and adventurous 
gentleman called Sir Hugh Willoughby, Knight, who 
being tossed and driven by tempest, he was at the last 
found in his ship frozen to death and all his people." 

^ Fabien's Chronicle. - Lanquet's Epitome Eng. Chron. 



298 THE EXTENT OF THE VOYAGE. 

The extent of the voyage along the North American 
coast is not known. The fleet must have reached very 
far north, as many died of the cold in July ; and it 
may have been as far south as the Chesapeake Bay, 
possibly not farther than somewhere in New Bngland. 
Peter Mart3^r, who was an intimate friend of Sebastian 
Cabot during his sojourn in Spain, ^ says, that Sebas- 
tian Cabot went so far north " that even in the month 
of July he found monstrous heaps of ice swimming on 
the sea," and that he went so far south that he was in 
the latitude of 36. In the Labrador region, Peter 
Martyr mentions the multitudes of big fishes which 
impeded the progress of the vessels ; that the inhabi- 
tants of those regions were clothed in the skins of 
beasts, and that there was such a " great plent}^ of 
bears," which used to eat fish, that " plunging them- 
selves into the water, where they perceive a multitude 
of these fishes to lie, they fasten their claws in their 
scales and so draw them to land and eat them." 

There may have been a third vo3'age by Sebastian 
Cabot, for Stow's Chronicle, 1502, says: "This year 
were brought unto the King three men taken in the 
new-found islands by Sebastian Gaboto, before named, 
in anno 1468. These men were clothed in beasts' skins, 



^Having married a Spanish lady, Sebastian Cabot went to Spain soon 
after the death of Henry VII., and entered the service of King Ferdinand in 
1512. Charles V. appointed him Pilot Major of Spain in 151S; in 1524 he 
was in the council of Badajos; and a few years later he went on his disas- 
trous expedition to the La Plata, from which he was returned a prisoner by 
his mutinous crew. Being unjustly condemned to an African exile for two 
years, he was pardoned by the Emperor and restored as Pilot Major. We 
find him in England again in 1548 as governor of a company of merchants 
who are trying to find a northeast passage to China. In 1556 he is president 
of a Muscovy company opening a trade with Russia by way of the White 
Sea. He died in London about 1557. 



POSSIBLl A THIRD V0 7'AGE. 099 

and ate raw flesh, but spake such a language as no 
man could understand them ; of the which three men, 
two of them were seen in the King's court at West- 
minster, two years after, clothed like Englishmen, and 
could not be discerned from Englishmen." 

The famous Cabot voyages were of little immediate 
result to England, since they did not find the riches 
of India ; but in after years, when men learned that 
an immense continent, rich in all the great resources 
of nature, is not to be thrown awaj^, those same voy- 
ages gave us the great English-speaking peoples of 
North America, 

Peter Martj-r sa3^s that Sebastian Cabot was carried 
into England b}^ his parents when he was " but in man- 
ner an infant," and Ramusio's statement is similar, but 
the English chroniclers generally say he was born m 
Bristol. In the occupancy of North America by the 
English, the fact that Sebastian Cabot was an English- 
man was of such prime importance that the pre- 
eminence, in the discovery of the continent, due to his 
father, a native of Genoa and a citizen of Venice, seems 
to have been studiously kept in the shade. In all con- 
temporary history of England, Sebastian's English 
birthplace was emphasized, and he was made so promi- 
nent in the two voyages — so blended as to appear like 
one — that were it not for the original petitions to King 
Henry VII., and his letters-patent, and the letters of 
foreign embassadors recently found in the archives of 
Milan and Venice, Sebastian would appear as the main 
figure, not only to the exclusion of his brothers, but 
even to the eclipse of his father. The aim and inten- 
tion of all this goes to the dispute and ruin of all the 



300 HARRIS SB' S ARG UMENT. 

claims of prior discovery. It advances and substantially 
establishes the riglit of England by an Englisb-born 
citizen to tlie co-ordinate if not the first survey of the 
North American coast. 

The astute and incisive Harrisse, who has added so 
much to our critical knowledge of certain detailed facts 
and dates, is entitled to great credit in the distinction he 
has achieved by his notes and biographies of Columbus 
and Cabot. None of the writers who have treated of the 
progress of discovery have been free from prejudice, 
each assuming his peculiar views and theories. Har- 
risse, who we believe is an American born, although a 
domiciliated Frenchman, whether naturalized or not, like 
the Venetian citizenship of Cabot, has his very positive 
leanings. He cites Blackstone as published in New 
York to settle the law^ of England in the days of Henry 
VII. He assumes that the patent granted to the Cabots 
by the Crown denaturalizes them upon an arithmetical 
inference deduced from the date of the Venetian nat- 
uralization. He quotes contradictory citations from 
Richard Eden's marginal note on Peter Martyr's chron- 
icles and from Contarini the embassador's correspond- 
ence. The latter says concerning Cabot : " He said to 
me, Senor Embassador, to say it all, I was born at 
Venice, but I was raised and bred in England," whilst, 
the marginal note in the chronicles af&rms : " Sebastian 
Cabot said to me that he was born at Bristol, but at the 
age of four he was carried by his father to Venice, 
and after a certain number of years he returned to Eng- 
land, where it was assumed that he was a Venetian by 
birth." Harrisse asks, "Which of these declarations is 
to be credited ? " And he quotes Peter Martyr, who 



MARTYR AND CONTARINI. 301 

reports Sebastian Cabot as " born in Venice, bnt trans- 
ported to England when but an infant." These are 
almost the same words as Contarini's. There could be 
no collusion between the statements, because Peter 
Martyr's was printed six years before the arrival of 
Contarini in Spain. Harrisse does not remark that Peter 
Martyr as a Spanish writer, and Contarini as a Spanish 
diplomat, are maintaining the Spanish or foreign side 
of a controversy under confessed diplomatic and parti- 
san auspices. It is unnecessary to comment on such a 
biased statement of the case. 

Harrisse, therefore, sets aside the words of Cabot as 
nugatory because contradictory, and he puts forward 
what he calls the legal documents and a legal view of 
the case. The petition addressed to Henry VII., in 
1496, is entered in the names of Ludovic, Sebastian, 
and of Sancho Cabot, and Jean, their father, does not 
assume or declare himself to be legal guardian of them 
as infants. The sons, on the contrary, appear in their 
individual capacity. The letters-patent, dated the 5th 
of March, 1496, so enumerates the four grantees. It is 
not a joint concession, and in its terms is an individual 
grant to each by name, their heirs, successors, and 
assigns. " Dilectis nobis, Johanni Caboto, civi Venitia- 
rum^ ac Ludovico, Sebastiano et Sancto filiis dicti 
Johannis, et eorum ac cujus lebet eorum. Hereditus 
et deputatis." 

Harrisse then appeals to Blackstone's Commentaries, 
published in New York in 1 851, to show that this grant 
could not vest if the three sons were minors ; and there- 
fore they must be of age, which would carry their birth 
back to Venice, anterior to their father's naturalization. 



302 



BLACKSTONE AND HENRY VII. 



The parliament alone, lie says, possessed this power, with- 
out which a concession based merely on the royal grant 
would have been of no avail. He therefore appeals to 
the common law of England as an impassable barrier to 
the claim of Sebastian Cabot as an Englishman, and 
an incontrovertible proof of his foreign birth, notwith- 
standing his own assertions and those of all the chron- 
icles and records of the time to the contrary. In this 
amateur legal dictum Harrisse does not say that he has 
proof that the authority of parliament was wanting ; 
prima facie ^ if needed, such authority is implied in the 
record he produced of the grant, and the record is the 
proof of such necessary action in the law. The Latin 
text above quoted specifically mentions the Venetian 
citizenship of John, the father, and the other names are 
given separately and expressly without such qualifica- 
tions. If it was requisite to give the citizenship of John, 
the sentence is framed so as not to include the sons. 

The specious presentation of this subject would be of 
slight account if it did not allege documentary and 
legal proof, where the most trivial examination will 
show the absence of both. Blackstone has nothing to 
do with it in 1851. The statutes in the time of Henry 
VII., whatever they may have been, were supplemented 
and declared in the King's patent and the obviously 
implied legal action of the cabinet, the lords, the com- 
mons, and the whole routine necessary to make such 
patent good. 

We must therefore relegate Mr. Harrisse to the ranks 
of the foreign antagonists to the English claim of the 
birthright of Cabot, and the credit derived from the dis- 
coveries of the English sailors of the city of Bristol. 



THE ARITHMETICAL INFERENCE. 303 

As to the arithmetical deduction from the legal doc- 
uments, Harrisse alone presumes the existence of a 
maritime requirement, which must appl}^ the majority age 
of twenty-one to a ship's officer or a marine sailor in the 
age of Henry VII. There never was such requirement, 
neither in the mercantile nor in the royal navy of any 
nation, so far as we know. Nelson entered the British 
navy at the age of thirteen, gained his great renown in 
Indian and European battles, fought through the 
American war, and was made a post captain at the 
age of twenty-one. The difference in time between the 
naturalization at Venice and the date of the letters 
patent — the difference between 1476 and 1496 — proves 
that they were of competent age; but as there is no 
mention nor record of their naturalization or birth in 
Venice, nor in any authenticated document produced of 
their abode elsewhere than in England, the arithmetical 
presumption goes for naught. Ludovico and Sancho 
have not been thought of sufficient importance, and 
Sebastian alone, by his discoveries and distinguished 
career, has been exclusively discussed in this connection. 
Assuming him to be the second son, as named in the 
grant, would still leave the fact of his being the youngest 
open to conjecture. There is no argument whatever, 
and no fact alleged, inconsistent with Sebastian Cabot's 
English nativity to be argued from the dates, making 
twenty years between the Venetian naturalization 
and the English concession, and the English preroga- 
tives of discovery derived from a citizen of English 
birth. 

In these statements we present an epitome of the 
facts and the dispute regarding the English claims to 



304 ^^^ SPHERE OF DISPUTE. 

the discovery of North America. The French abettors 
of Champlain, Cartier, and others ; the Dutch presen- 
tation of Hudson ; the Florentines with Vespuccius, 
may continue to dispute these questions, but the great 
result remains exclusively segregated upon the broad 
field of colonization and possession, that the Spaniards 
and the English divide the actual and final sphere of the 
dispute. Perhaps, from this practical point of view, the 
rest of it, in the curt manner of Harrisse himself, may 
be dismissed as only among the entertaining episodes of 
history. 




CHAPTER XIV. 

THE AFFAIRS OF THE NEW WORLD IN SPAIN. 

lET us now cross the Atlantic and see how 
the affairs of the New AVorld stand in Spain. 
Columbus judged rightly. Margarite and 
Friar Buil have been doing their utmost to prejudice 
the sovereigns against him and his enterprise. The 
islands they regard as a worthless discovery, contain- 
ing neither gold, spices, nor anything else worth the 
vast expense necessary to obtain them. They are 
simply a good place to sicken and die among savages. 
As for the Admiral, his administration is most 
miserable. When the colonists are sick he taxes 
them with excessive labor ; for the most trifling 
peccadilloes he stops their rations, at the great peril of 
their health ; upon the common people he inflicts the 
severest punishments, and upon gentlemen heaps the 
most humiliating indignities. To crown the evils of 
the new settlement, it was altogether probable that he 
had perished in his foolhardy continuation of the dis- 
covery of new territories. Of course there was a vast 
other side to the whole matter, on which they were 
silent. Nothing was mentioned of the great emer- 
gencies of the new settlement in the wilderness, calling 
for almost herculean efforts ; nor of the reckless 
idleness and crime, which demanded severe measures. 
No one regarded the fact that the supplies taken out 
in the second voyage were inadequate to the wants of 



c?o6 JUAN A G UAD O. 

SO many, and that much, of it had spoiled ; that the 
Admiral, wishing to relieve the burdens of the Crown 
as much as possible, hoped to replenish his scant}^ 
larder by a speedy development of the resources of the 
island. Nor could he, in his ready adaptation to every 
needed industry, sympathize with those delicate souls 
to whom work was worse than death. But Columbus 
had no competent advocate at court to rebut the one- 
sided exaggerations. 

In view of all these charges and discouraging 
reports, it cannot be said that the sovereigns were 
unreasonably moved. But precautionary measures 
were necessary, for the more of&cial reports of Mar- 
garite and Friar Buil were sustained by others who 
had returned from the colony, some of whom w^ere so 
connected and related as to have no small influence 
over persons of rank. Some properly qualified per- 
son must be sent out to make an ofiicial investigation 
of affairs, and to assume the government if the 
Admiral did not return, for his brothers had been 
rendered so unpopular as to make their ruling as 
deputies unsafe. If the Viceroy were on the ground, 
he was simply to report the evils existing in the 
island, their causes, and the remedies to be applied. 
An important mission this — one requiring wisdom and 
tact. Who should perform it ? Who, finally, but Juan 
Aguado, whom Columbus himself had but recently 
commended to the special consideration of the sover- 
eigns ? 

On the loth of April, 1495, there was another enact- 
ment of great importance to the interests of the Vice- 
ro3r. Any native-born subject of Spain might prose- 



NEW VOYAGERS. 



307 



cute voyages of discovery in the New World ou his own 
account, and might even settle in Hispaniola under 
certain conditions. " All vessels were to sail exclu- 
sively from the port of Cadiz, and under the inspection 
of officers appointed by the Crown. Those who em- 
barked for Hispaniola without pay and at their own 
expense were to have lands assigned to them and to be 
provisioned for one year, with a right to retain such 
lands and all houses they might erect upon them. Of 
all gold which the}^ might collect they were to retain 
one-third for themselves and to pay two-thirds to the 
Crown. Of all other articles of merchandise, the 
produce of the island, they were to pay merel}^ one- 
tenth to the Crown. Their purchases were to be made 
in the presence of officers apjDointed by the sovereigns, 
and the royal duties paid into the hands of the King's 
receiver. Bach ship sailing on private enterprise was 
to take one or two persons named by the royal officers 
at Cadiz. One-tenth of the tonnage of the ship was to 
be at the service of the Crown free of charge. One- 
tenth of whatever such ships should procure in the 
newly-discovered countries was to be paid to the Crown 
on their return. These regulations included private 
ships trading to Hispaniola with provisions. For every 
vessel thus fitted out on private adventure, Columbus, 
in consideration of his privilege of an eighth of tonnage, 
w^as to have the right to freight one on his own 
account."^ 

Clearly enough, this was an infringement on the 
privileges originally granted to Columbus, and he com- 
plained of it most bitterly. Was it brought about by 

^ Irving's Columbus, vol. ii, pp. 62, 63. 



3o8 



AN INFRINGEMENT ON COLUMBUS. 



the persuasions of Vicente Yaiiez Pinzon, and others 
who had sailed with Columbus ? The empty coffers of 
Spain, the expensive expeditions of Columbus bringing 
little or nothing in return, and the pressing need of 
extending the explorations as rapidly as possible — all 
made the ears of the monarchs available to a plan 
which would accomplish their designs not only without 
expense, but with large and sure profits. The privileges 
thus widely extended were no doubt greatly abused, 
and did much to bring about that irregularity of method 
in discovery, that licentiousness and predatory adven- 
ture, prophesied by Columbus. 

Barly in April, before the ships were under way, 
Torres returned from the Indies and brought the old- 
fashioned ship news, fully up to the times. Columbus 
had returned from his voyage along the south of Cuba, 
and here was the famous ofiicial document, in which all 
the crews had taken solemn oath that they had seen the 
continent of Asia. At once the mercury of the court 
went up, and up went the stock of the enterprise in the 
Indies ; for here was more gold, and many animal and 
vegetable curiosities. The continent of India ! — richest 
country on the globe ! — here it zuas^ authenticated and 
swo7'n to by all parties I 

Still Aguado must go and look into matters. Was 
he not at once the friend of Columbus and loj^al to the 
Crown ? He could ascertain the facts concerning this 
unhappy state of affairs in Hispauiola ; that would 
wrong no one. Diego, the Admiral's brother, having 
had the intervention of the sovereigns in behalf of that 
ofold of his which Fonseca tried to retain when he came 
back from the Indies, would now go back again. But if 



ADVICE FROM THE SOVEREIGNS. 309 

the dignitary had been humbled by the royal compulsion 
to do justice in the case, and by the special orders to be 
conciliatory toward the Admiral, he had ample oppor- 
tunity in the long years of his administration of Indian 
affairs to vent his pent-up wrath on Columbus and his 
descendants. 

Though alwa3^s considerate of the feelings of the Ad- 
miral, it was necessary to send him a letter of instruc- 
tions. " The number of persons in the settlement 
should be limited to five hundred, a greater number 
being considered unnecessary for the service of the 
island, and a burdensome expense to the Crown. To 
prevent further discontents about provisions, they 
ordered that the rations of individuals should be dealt 
out in portions every fifteen days, and that all punish- 
ment by short allowance or the stoppage of rations 
should be discontinued, as tending to injure the health 
of the colonists, who required everj^ assistance of nour- 
ishing diet to fortify them against the maladies incident 
to a strange climate."^ 

Pablo Belvis must go in the place of Firniin Cedo, to 
give special attention to the mining interests. Eccle- 
siastics must be sent to replace those who had returned, 
for now, as heretofore, the conversion of the natives was 
all important to Isabella. 

What was to be done with the five hundred Indian 
slaves whom Torres had just brought to Spain ? At 
fi.rst they were ordered to be sold in the slave-markets 
after the manner of the Africans and the Moors who 
had been the victims of wars and conquests. But they 
were so gentle, so docile, and had been so hospitable to 

^ Irving, vol ii, pp. 65, 66. 



3IO ARROGANCE OF AGUADO. 

the Spaniards, the Queen's heart failed her. Five 
days later the order was countermanded until learned 
and devout spiritual advisers could be consulted as to 
the procedure. The opinion thus sought came slowly, 
and was by no means unanimous ; so Isabella was gov- 
erned by the impulses of her own generous nature, and, 
contrary to the customs of the times, ordered them to 
be sent back to Hispaniola. 

But it is time to accompany Aguado, sailing his four 
caravels, liberally filled with every kind of supplies, 
out of Cadiz, in the last daj^s of August, to reach 
Hispaniola in October. On his arrival the Admiral 
is absent, still trying to settle affairs in the island — 
trying to complete a peace with Caonabo's brothers. 
How will this official from the sovereigns deport him- 
self? Surely he has every motive for good conduct. 
If he is under deep obligation to the Admiral, and 
therefore should do him justice, he is under no less 
obligation to the King and Queen of Spain and to the 
unhappy condition of Hispaniola. But to these 
claims upon his good discretion he is utterly blind. 
Without waiting to investigate the true state of 
affairs, he immediately grasped the reins of authority. 
Some he arrested, officers were summoned to account, 
and no respect whatever was shown the lieutenant, 
Bartholomev/. The latter, taken by surprise by such 
proceedings, demanded that he should show his com- 
mission. He " would show it to the Admiral," was 
the haught}^ repl}^ Presently, however, lest any one 
should doubt his authority, he had his credentials pro- 
claimed publicly with sound of trumpet. They were 
brief, but comprehensive — comprehensive because of 



HE COURTS DISCONTENT. 311 

their vagueness ; like an india-rubber ring, the docu- 
ment could be adjusted to almost any case. 

" Cavaliers, esquires, and other persons who by our 
orders are in the Indies, we send you thither Juan 
Aguado, our gentleman of the chamber, who will 
speak to you for us. We command 3^ou to give him 
faith and credence." 

The indefiniteness of the document, and the pom- 
pous manner in which it was proclaimed, all told in the 
heaviest possible manner against Columbus and his 
brothers. The proud hidalgos, humiliated by labor 
and limitations of food ; the common culprit, but 
partially punished for his flagrant crimes ; the jealous 
subordinate in office, who would not brook the superior 
authorit}^ of a foreigner ; the aggrieved Indian, who 
could not discriminate between the outrages of the 
Spaniards and the rule or misrule of the Admiral — 
all, now, were loud enough in their calls for redress, 
supposing that Aguado would at once supersede Co- 
lumbus in authority. The former, in order to appear 
as peremptory as possible, set out in search of the 
latter with a bod}^ of horsemen. 

With Bartholomew Columbus, surrounded by this 
seething sea of discontent, discretion was the better 
part of valor. He must be quiet and look on. 

Rumor of Aguado's proceedings soon reached the 
Admiral, and he at once set out for home. The 
parties missed each other, but Aguado soon returned 
and the meeting occurred at Isabella. Now Aguado 
and all the rest were taken by surprise at the conduct 
of the Admiral. The former, who had anticipated and 
almost courted a sharp altercation, was completely 



312 A HURRICANE. 

disarmed by tlie cool submission of the latter. But 
Columbus could not fail to see that his prestige was 
severely shaken, for even the caciques met in a sort 
of convention to formulate their grievances to the new 
of&cer, who, in making up his category of accusations, 
seems to have made but little discrimination as to 
what was true and what was false. 

Columbus took in the situation, and saw the necessity 
of at once returning to Spain to vindicate himself. 
He resolved to go in the same squadron with Aguado. 

It is about noon, and the ships are ready to weigh 
anchor for Spain. But what mean those sharp gusts 
of wind from the east, and those dense clouds of vapor 
rushing through the air ? Ah ! say the Indians, a 
furica7ie is coming — or a hurricane, as we now sa}', 
having slightly changed the word. Another tempest, 
rushing from the west, encounters it. All at once the 
heavens are dark as midnight. There are lurid sheets 
of. lightning and awful crashes of thunder. The sea 
breaks its bounds and rushes inland for miles. The 
air is thick with leaves and flying branches of trees. 
Whole groves, with masses of earth and rocks, are 
torn from the mountain sides and hurled into the 
valleys, stopping the rivers in their courses. It was as 
if the end of the world had come. Some even fled to 
the caves for refuge. The ships snapped their cables ; 
three were sunk with their passengers and crews ; 
others were " dashed against each other " and wrecked 
along the shore. The fury of the tempest lasted for 
three hours, and then the sun shone upon the fear- 
ful scene of disaster. Never in the memory or the 
traditions of the Indians had there been such a hurri- 



A NE W G OL D-MINE . 3 1 3 

cane. Surely this was a divine visitation on tTie 
" cruelties and crimes of the white men," who, b}^ 
their outrages, had moved the very waters, earth, and 
air to judgment ! 

Aguado's fleet of four ships had been sunken and 
wrecked, and also two others, leaving only the shat- 
tered Nino. She was repaired, and another caravel 
was built out of such ruins of the fleet as could be 
reclaimed. Behold the energy of the sick-hearted 
Admiral, who, though doing the greatest possible 
service for his nation and for the world, is fighting 
misfortune among strangers and savages — alike his 
enemies ! 

But scarcely ever is any part of life all misfortune. 
Isabella was now surprised by a most romantic inci- 
dent. A young Spaniard named Miguel Diaz, having 
had an altercation with another young Spaniard and 
wounded him mortally as was supposed, fled with some 
half-dozen comrades across the island, among the sav- 
ages on the south side. Here he became the guest of 
a village and community over which ruled a young 
female cacique, who in time fell deeply in love with 
him. He, not insensible to her attractions, wedded 
her, it would seem. But in time his isolation among 
savages told heavily upon him, and he became melan- 
choly. On seeing this, the kind heart of the native 
princess was greatly moved, and she resolved upon a 
remedy. Knowing the Spanish mania for gold, she 
disclosed to him the rich mines in her dominions, and 
urged her spouse to invite his nation to locate with 
her. Miguel and his comrades examined the gold 
region and soon became convinced of its exceeding 
richness in the precious metal. 



.j^ GOLD IN ABUNDANCE. 

Now, by a literally golden path, he saw his way out 
into civilization once more. However much the rather 
severe adelantado may have been incensed at him, an 
abundance of gold would be an ample peace offering. 
He and his comrades returned to Isabella, and, linger- 
ing- about the neighborhood, soon learned that the 
wounded man had entirely recovered. 

On entering the town and relating his strange and 
welcome story, he at once became a hero. The Ad- 
miral, too, was again lifted up. 

The ships must wait till the adelantado could 
journey to the south side of the island and make such 
examination as might confirm the good news. 

He and his part}^ made a forced march across thither 
and soon returned, saying that alike in all the rivers 
and in the hillsides there was such an abundance of 
gold that Cibao was not to be compared to it. Then 
there were several old pits, as if the mines had once 
been worked. How suggestive to the Admiral ! This 
must surely be the ancient Ophir, where the ships of 
Solomon, coming from the east, had obtained the fabu- 
lous quantity of gold, with which the temple had been 
literally covered ! What news for Spain ! Besides, 
Columbus had wished to change the location of the 
colon}^ The Indian princess, now named Catalina, 
occupied the site of the present city, San Domingo — 
an excellent location for a colony and having an 
abundance of gold in the vicinity. What more could 
be desired ? A fort must be erected at once and the 
territory of the Indian princess, at the mouth of the 
Ozema river, must become the centre of operations. 

On ]\Iarch lo, 1496, everything was ready for the 



BRA VER 7 OF CA ONA BO. 31^ 

voyage to Spain. The two ships were crowded, some 
two hundred and fifty persons — indifferent idlers — 
gentlemen probably ; those w^ho were sallow and hollow- 
cheeked from lingering diseases, the disorderly and 
the profligate — a sorry crowd, filing along the gang- 
ways ! " Never," says Irving, " did a more miserable 
and disappointed crew return from a land of promise." 
Columbus was in one ship and Aguado in the other. 

But we must not overlook the Indians in these ships, 
of whom there are about thirty, including the noted 
Caonabo, one of his brothers, and a nephew. Whatever 
may have been the Admiral's promises to the cacique, 
or his plans concerning him, that savage chieftain 
remained sullen and morose, being intelligent enough 
to know that his power was at an end. 

What if he were taken to Spain to see the glory of 
that kingdom, and then return as the Admiral had 
promised him ? Could he ever again be " Lord of the 
Golden House "? Had not the detested v/hife man 
taken possession of his kingdom of gold-bearing rocks, 
his broad grassy plains, and rivers which flowed over 
golden sands ? There have been fair-skinned rulers 
who would rather die as kings than live as men. 

The voyage was painfully tedious. The Admiral, 
not knowing anything about the trade-winds, instead 
of steering to the northward so as to take advantage 
of the westerly winds returning as a reaction of the 
same, went directly east, thus having either head-winds 
or calms continuall}^ After a month at sea, he was 
barely at the Caribbee Islands, his crews tired and sick 
and his provisions greatly reduced. He concluded, 
therefore, to stop at these islands, not only for wood 



3i6 



AJV INDIAN PRINCESS. 



and water, but for as mucli cassava-bread and otber 
eatables as lie niigbt be able to obtain. They anchored 
at Mariagalante, but soon went to Guadaloupe. But 
the natives, the women at one end of the island and 
the men at the other, were decidedly warlike, and vigor- 
ously opposed their landing. Fire-arms and gew-gaws, 
however, soon reconciled them, and the boats landed. 
'' While some of the people were getting wood and 
water and making cassava-bread, Columbus dispatched 
forty men, well armed, to explore the interior of the 
island. They returned on the following day with ten 
women and three boys. The women were of large and 
powerful form, yet of great agility. They were naked 
and wore their long hair flowing loose upon their 
shoulders ; some decorated their heads with plumes of 
various colors. Among them was the wife of a cacique, 
a woman of great strength and proud spirit. On the 
approach of the Spaniards she had fled with an agilit}^ 
which soon left all her pursuers far behind, excepting 
a native of the Canary Islands remarkable for swift- 
ness of foot. She would have escaped even from him, 
but, perceiving that he was alone and far from his 
companions, she turned suddenly upon him, seized 
him with astonishing force, and would have strangled 
him had not the Spaniards arrived and taken her, 
entangled like a hawk with her prey. The warlike 
spirit of these Carib women, and the circumstance of 
finding them in armed bands, defending their shores 
during the absent e of their husbands, led Columbus 
repeatedl}^ into the erroneous idea that certain of these 
islands were inhabited entirely by women, for which 
error, as has already been observed, he was prepared 



STAJ^VA TION ON THE SEA . 317 

by the stories of Marco Polo concerning an island of 
amazons near tlie coast of Asia."^ 

Having made up cassava-bread enough to last three 
weeks, the ships prepared to sail. As it was intended 
to make Guadaloupe a sort of key to the Caribbee 
Islands, it was important to leave the natives in a 
friendly mood. The prisoners, therefore, were all dis- 
missed with presents. But the cacique's wife refused 
to go, retaining also her ^^oung daughter. It is sup- 
posed that she fell in love with the unfortunate 
Caonabo. 

The ships kept to the twenty-second degree of lati- 
tude, laboring against wind and current, so that a 
month of utmost effort in sailing found them still far 
from Spain, and the provisions were so alarmingly 
low that the allowance could not be more than " six 
ounces of bread and a pint and a half of water " per 
day. During the last days of Alay the store of pro- 
visions was so small as to call for still scantier rations. 
But where on the wide Atlantic were these hungr}^ peo- 
ple ? The pilots, accustomed onl}^ to coasting, or 
navigating the Mediterranean, had completely lost their 
reckoning, nor were they disposed to accept the opinion 
of the Admiral. By the first of June famine stared 
them in the face. Some proposed to kill and eat the 
Indians. But for the earnest entreaties of Columbus 
they would at least have thrown them overboard to 
lessen the demand for food. These mortals were 
human, he said, and must be treated accordingly. 
Besides, he had kept exact reckoning and knew that 
they were near Cape St. Vincent. When night came 

^Irving's Columbus, vol. ii, pp. 84, 85. 



3i8 DEATH OF C AON ABO. 

on and lie ordered the sail taken in, there was a general 
sneer and discontented chattering. They were nearer 
the English Channel or France, most thought. When 
morning dawned and they saw the very land Columbus 
had named they were ready to pronounce him an oracle 
of the ocean. 

The almost starving passengers landed in Cadiz on 
the nth of June, after a most trying voyage of three 
months. Caonabo had died on the way ; died, it would 
seem, of a broken heart — or of " grief and vexation," 
as Bernaldez has it. Having landed in Hayti a mere 
Carib adventurer, he had allied himself to one of the 
most noble families and had risen to be the most pow- 
erful chief of the island. A veritable king among 
savages was he, and though broken in spirit by over- 
whelming misfortune at heart he could not bow to 
captivity, but was unyielding and heroic to the last. 

In this same harbor of Cadiz were now three caravels 
just ready to sail with supplies for the colony. The 
four sailing in January before had been wrecked on the 
coast of Spain. Columbus examined the royal dis- 
patches, and, having learned the directions of the sov- 
ereigns and also the general public sentiment, wrote at 
once to his brother Bartholomew, whom he had left in 
authority, to be energetic in restoring the island to 
peace and order, to develop its resources, to explore and 
work the recently found gold-mines in Hayna, and to 
begin to build there a sea-port. The discords and 
unproductiveness of the New World, now become noth- 
ing less than noted scandal, must be speedily reme- 
died. 

No earthly scene could have done more to confirm 



COLUMBUS AND THE SOVEREIGNS. 319 

the evil prejudices against Columbus and his " island" 
than did the sorry spectacle of the disembarkation of 
his crews at Cadiz. Two hundred and fifty wretched 
beings — sick and half starved, hollow-cheeked, hollow- 
eyed, their sallow skins a mockery of the gold they 
went to seek — crawled out of the caravels, about every 
one of them ready to curse the day he left Spain. 
Columbus himself, with downcast countenance, wear- 
ing the plain gray frock of a Franciscan monk, a cord 
about his waist and his beard neglected after the man- 
ner of that order, was scarcely more than a symbol of 
grief. Over two hundred disappointed, angry tongues 
could do much to detract the Admiral and his West- 
India enterprise. And all Spain, already advised b}'- 
Margarite, Friar Buil, and many others, was on the 
alert to learn the worst things possible from these bar- 
barous kingdoms — this " Mosquito Land "I 

But the Admiral had still some grand points to 
make. His resources for a show of prosperity were 
by no means exhausted. Then, too, the sovereigns, 
seeming to turn a deaf ear to all that had been said 
against him, had w^ritten him a most cordial letter 
from Almazan, July 12, 1496, as soon as they heard 
of his arrival. Most graciously did they invite him 
to court as soon as he might be able to recuperate 
after the exhaustion of his long and tedious voj^age. 

This would be the occasion for exhibiting what he 
had just brought from the New World. So the pro- 
cession, not nearly so large as it had been when going 
to Barcelona in 1493, started for Burgos, where the 
King and Queen were to await him. The Indian 
show was better than before, for the number and 



320 CURIOSITIES FROM THE INDIES. 

variety were greater. They were decorated in gaudy 
feathers and gold, and there were princes among them 
— Caonabo's brother, of some thirt}^ years, with his 
little son of ten years. The former, christened Don 
Diego, " wore a collar or chain of gold, which the 
Admiral made him put on when they passed through 
the cities and villages." Bernaldez, the venerable 
author just quoted, says it weighed " six hundred 
castella7ios^ which chain I saw and took in my hands 
when I had the above-named Lord Bishop (Fonseca) 
and the Admiral and Don Diego as guests in my 
house. The Admiral brought, also, many things 
used by the Indians — crowns, masks, girdles, collars, 
and many other things interwoven with cotton, and 
all having a figure of the devil in his own shape, or in 
that of a cat or of an owl's head, or something 
worse, cut in wood or made in the cotton, or what- 
ever else might be the material of the orna- 
ment. He had some crowns with wings at the sides, 
on which were eyes of gold, and in particular one 
crown, which he said had belonged to the cacique 
Caonabo, which was very large and high, and on being 
struck displayed wings, like shields, with eyes of gold 
as large around as a drinking cup, set in their places 
in a very ingenious and singular way, resembling 
enamelling. This crown likewise had a figure of the 
devil upon it, and it may be believed that he appeared 
to them in these shapes, and that they were idolators 
and had the devil for their Lord." 

Thus wrote the good old curate, showing how, in 
those superstitious times, this display of heathen 

^" Equivalent to the value of $3,195.00 of the present time," says Irving. 



PEOPLE WITH TAILS. 321 

ornaments and symbols may have seemed almost like 
a revelation, not only from tlie new^ bnt also from the 
tinder-world — the " Inferno!''' 

In his interview with the sovereigns the Admiral 
was happily disappointed. He had no occasion to 
reply to the croakings of Don Margarite and Friar 
Bnil, nor j-et to the bndget of accusations brought 
home by Aguado, for they were not so much as 
mentioned. The situation of the Admiral in the 
Indies was exceedingly trying and difficult. If he 
had erred in any particular, it was in judgment, not 
in disposition. Says Bernaldez : " The King and 
Queen, who received him very graciously, took great 
pleasure in seeing the strange things and in learning 
about his discoveries." With what keen interest must 
they have listened to his account of that memorable 
voyage along the south of Cuba, with its romance of 
people in long white garments and those having tails. 
Also, there was the account of the amazons in the 
Caribbees, the love adventure of Miguel Diaz, and the 
gold-mines of Hayna, which mines were, of course, 
those of King Solomon's Ophir ! 

Being so well received, Columbus was encouraged 
to propose another vo3^age of discovery, in order to 
connect Spain more closely with the mainland of 
Asia, or more especially to discover the mainland to 
the south, of which he had heard through the natives. 
To this end they readily promised the eight ships he 
asked for, two to be sent at once with supplies to 
Hispaniola, and six properly fitted out for his vo^-age 
of discovery. 

But in all this there came about a most painful and 



322 GOLD IN BARS. 

miscliievous delay. The sovereigns had already far 
too much on their hands ; and men in ofhce, who were 
the deadly enemies of Columbus, found many ways 
of detaining him. Spain was in trouble with France, 
being obliged to keep a large army in Italy to help 
the King of Naples recover his throne. Other armies 
must be kept on the frontiers to keep out French 
invasion, and squadrons must skirt the coast both on 
the Atlantic and on the Mediterranean. Then there 
was about to be a great double wedding. The Princess 
Juana was to marry Philip, Archduke of Austria, and 
his sister Margarita was to be the bride of Prince 
Juan. An armada of more than a hundred ships, with 
twenty thousand persons, many of them the most 
distinguished in Spain, was to carry away Philip's 
bride and bring back that of Prince Juan. Thus, the 
sovereigns bustling about from place to place, full of 
care and business, and the treasury empty, Columbus 
was obliged to stand aside, as in other days, and await 
the dispatch of all these immense affairs before his 
few caravels could be fitted up. 

Finally, in the autumn of 1496, an appropriation 
was made. But just as the six million maravedis 
were about to be handed over, a most untoward in- 
cident occurred. Pedro Alonzo Nino, who had left 
Cadiz for Hispaniola just as Columbus returned from 
his second voyage, was now returned with his three 
caravels laden with Indian slaves. He did not make 
a formal report until after visiting his home at 
Huelva, but had meanwhile circulated a rumor 
that he had a great amount of ''''gold in bars.'''' 
The slaves were his gold.^ and they were confined by 



ISABELLA'S PLANS. 323 

iron bars in the ships, Ferdinand and Isabella, com- 
pletely duped by this play upon words, invested the 
six million maravedis designed for Columbus in 
patching up an old castle, and ordered his outfit to be 
made from the new returns of gold from the Indies — 
probably from the rich mines in Hayna. 

Not only did this joke cause a long and disastrous 
delay, but it was turned into a most keen-edged bur- 
lesque on the golden Ophir of Columbus. It was one 
of those seeds of rancorous ill-will which could flourish 
so readily in the jealous hearts of Spain. 

It was only in the spring of 1497 that wars and wed- 
dings had sufficiently subsided to admit of Isabella's 
serious attention to the affairs of the Indies. However 
indifferent Ferdinand may have become, and however 
unfavorable the chief advisers of the court maj' have 
been, she was still in earnest, and evidently intended 
to place matters on a firm basis. To this end, every 
point needing consideration seems to have been thor- 
oughly reviewed, and throughout the changes and pro- 
visions made there is an evident design to aid and gratify 
Columbus in every way possible. 

First^ all his rights and prerogatives were confirmed 
and emphasized, with the privilege of transmitting them 
to his descendants forever. And his brother Bartholo- 
mew was appointed adelantado, no reference being made 
to his having been placed in this office already by the 
Admiral, an act concerning which Ferdinand had been 
decidedl}^ jealous. 

Secondly^ as the lack of dividends in the Indian en- 
terprises had told most heavily on Columbus, who was 
expected to furnish one-eighth of the investments and 



324 



LENIENCY WITH NATIVES. 



had received no profits, lie was exempted from all pay- 
ments, with the understanding, of course, that he could 
claim neither an eighth nor a tenth of the profits, which 
were far less than the outlay. 

Thirdly^ as Columbus had been aggrieved by the act 
of April, 1495, granting license for discovery to any 
native-born Spaniard, under certain conditions, a retrac- 
tion was now made of anything which might be 
unfavorable to his interests and contrary to the privi- 
leges already granted him. 

Fourthly^ three hundred and thirty persons in royal 
pay were allowed him for this vo3^age, with the privi- 
lege of adding to the number if they could be paid out 
of the profits of the colony. He was authorized to give 
lands to all who should reside on them for four years, 
and give proper attention to the cultivation of the same. 
But all brazil-wood and precious metals must be reserved 
for the Crown. 

Nor were the unfortunate natives forgotten. The 
Queen could not consent to have them treated after the 
common manner of captives. The greatest attention 
must be given to their religious instruction. Leniency 
must be shown in collecting tributes, and those who 
failed to pay must not be treated harshly. In fact, 
measures of government should not be severe, beyond 
what was necessary for the safety of the colony. 

Thus far everything promised well ; but when the 
ships, with their crews, were called for, there was a com- 
plete stoppage of affairs. No longer, as in the previous 
voyages, did all classes, from the lordly castle to the 
cottage, press and crowd into the fleet, but more after 
the manner of the first voyage out of Palos, men every- 



CRIMINALS FOR THE COLONT. 



325 



wliere refused to go. Herculean labor, sickness, and 
short rations, with a so-called severe government and 
little or no gold — this combination of things was repel- 
lent rather than attractive. Hence a measure was 
resorted to at the suggestion of Columbus, according to 
Las Casas, which was simply a method of instilling 
blood-poison into the colony. The galleys, the mines, 
and the prisons were relieved of their criminals, whose 
sentences were commuted in order that they might 
serve without pay for certain specified periods in the 
New World. Those who had been sentenced to banish- 
ment for life might thus become free in ten years. 
Those, under penalty for any term of years coul'd earn 
their freedom in half the time. Finally, a general par- 
don was announced for all malefactors still abroad, if 
they would consign themselves over to the Admiral 
within a given time. Those who had merited death 
might serve for two years ; lighter sinners might get 
off with one j^ear. But those guilty of heres}^, treason, 
murder, or certain other crimes named could not avail 
themselves of this offer of freedom. 

This baneful measure, more or less common among 
nations in times gone by, could not fail to bring mis- 
chief to the colony. Crossing the Atlantic would not 
change the evil hearts of these criminals. The corrupt 
tree transplanted in the New World would produce the 
same corrupt fruit as at home, being onl}^ the more pro- 
lific because of its greater freedom and more prosperous 
circumstances. Nor could Columbus hope to have the 
grievous perplexities of his government in the Indies 
lessened by such a po.lic3^ And the better classes in 
Spain would be all the more shy of this po\ert3^-stricken 



326 BITTER TRIALS OF COLUMBUS. 

mosquito-land, since now tliey would not only have to 
live among savages and noxious insects, but also among 
criminals, some of whom had even deserved to die at 
home. 

And still the voyage was delayed. The official 
department of Indian affairs had been somew^hat 
changed. For some time Antonio de Torres had, to a 
great extent, superseded Fonseca, but his demands .had 
become unreasonable and the latter had been reinstated. 
New papers had to be made out, and the unfriendly 
bishop does not seem to have hurried matters. Indeed, 
it would seem that his agents, inspired by his animus, 
did whatever they could to hinder and retard the 
preparations. The Queen, too, was overwhelmed with 
affl.iction in the death of her son, Prince Juan. Such 
was her sympathy with the Admiral, however, and her 
interest in the suffering colony, that she used money 
laid by as the dower of her daughter Isabella, betrothed 
to the King of Portugal, that she might send two ships 
laden, with provisions by Coronel early in 1498. And 
it must have been some relief, in the midst of the 
unpopularity and scorn manifested toward Columbus by 
all parties, when she took into her own service as pages 
his two sons, wdio had served as such to her deceased 
son. 

Now, at length, in the end of May, the squadron of 
six ships is ready to sail under the command of the Ad- 
miral. But his bitter trials are not yet over — they must 
follow him even to the " water's edge." One Ximeno 
Breviesco, accountant and minion of Fonseca, with "an 
impudent front and an unbridled tongue,"' had been a 
good mouth-piece for the enmity which seems to have been 



BRE VIE SCO IS P UNISHED . 327 

SO rife in the office of Indian affairs. At the very last 
moment, as the ships were about to weigh anchor, he 
was on hand. Either on shore or on the Admiral's ship, 
he assailed the latter with his insolence. It was the 
drop which causes the cup to overflow. Unfortunately, 
the self-restraint which seems to have held out till 
now gave way in this last moment. Columbus knocked 
Breviesco down and kicked him — kicked him more than 
once — kicked him well, it is to be hoped, for he no 
doubt richly deserved it. 

But on the side of the Admiral it is much to be 
regretted that he should have thus broken down, for Las 
Casas tells us that this one act, more than all the com- 
plaints and detractions of his enemies, did much to 
injure the confidence of the King and Queen in his 
government, and, in general, to confirm the reports so 
assiduously circulated as to his vindictive cruelty. The 
measures soon after taken for his humiliation are sup- 
posed by the above writer to have been facilitated, if not 
suggested, by this incident ; although he deeply regretted 
it and wrote to the sovereigns some time afterwards, 
hoping, at least, to mitigate the effect of his unfortunate 
paroxysm of passion. 




CHAPTER XV. 

Columbus's third voyage. 

OLUMBUS sailed from San Lucar on his third 
voyage May 30, 1498. With a new and 
peculiar thought, he had mapped out a unique 
route across the ocean, thus working, as heretofore, to a 
deiinite plan. He believed there was a continent some- 
where to the south, for when he started homeward from 
his recent voyage along the south shore of Cuba he 
saw it bending down in that direction, and the Indians 
had constantly been telling him of a great body of land 
lying that way. Herrera thinks King John II, of 
Portugal had the same notion. Then Jayme Ferrer, a 
distinguished lapidary and traveller, had informed him 
by letter, at the order of the Queen, how he had ascer- 
tained that the nearer one came to the equator and to 
those regions where the people wevQ black, the more 
abundant would one find the most valuable articles of com- 
merce — gold, drugs, spices, and precious stones. Co- 
lumbus would keep well to the western outskirts of the 
Canary Islands, especially since he suspected French 
cruisers near the coast ; and, making the Cape Verde 
Islands his starting point, he would follow the equator 
to the continent in anticipation. Here he would find 
those black men whom the Indians of Hayti had told 
him once came to their island from the south and had 
peculiar metallic heads to their javelins. Some of this 
metal, which they had given him, had been assayed in 



A FRENCH PR I VA TEER . 329 

Spain, and proved to be a mixture of gold, silver, and 
copper. To ascertain the exact truth of all tliis would 
be most interesting, and might well give point and pur- 
pose to this third voyage. So, standing awa}' to the 
southwest, and thus escaping that French squadron 
which might be playing off and on somewhere between 
Cape St. Vincent and the Canaries, he touched 
Porto Santo and Madeira to take in wood, water, 
and supplies. Then he touched at Gomera, one of the 
more western islands of the Canaries, and, finding 
a French privateer with two Spanish prize ships, all of 
which fled at his approach, he sent three of his ships 
in pursuit. The fugitive squadron had such a start 
that they could not be overtaken ; but one of the prizes, 
liaving left six of the French crew behind in their haste, 
was easily turned over to Columbus by the Spanish 
prisoners on board. He delivered the ship to the cap- 
tain and consigned the French prisoners to the gover- 
nor of the island, to be offered in exchange for six 
Spanish prisoners held by the cruiser.-^ 

June 2ist, just oif the island of Ferro, the squadron 
was divided, three ships hastening away to Hispaniola 
with supplies, and three, commanded by the Admiral, 
going on to the Cape Verde Islands. 

The three captains of the ships bound for Hayti are 
worthy of notice. Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal was 
a man of worth ; Pedro de Arana was the brother of 
Beatrix Henriquez, and the cousin of the unfortunate 
commander of La Navidad ; Juan Antonio Colombo, 
a man of rare judgment and ability, was a Genoese and 
a relative of the Admiral. They were to command the 

1 See Hisioria, by F. Columbus, cap. 65. 



330 T^^E ADMIRAL'S SQUADRON. 

squadron, each a week at a time successively, tlie ship 
in command bearing the signal-light. They must steer 
for the new site of the colony, at the mouth of the 
Ozema, in the newly discovered gold regions of Hayna, 
on the south side of Hayti, for by this time the colony 
would have its headquarters here. 

The Admiral's squadron consisted of two merchant's 
caravels and his own decked flag-ship of, perhaps, a 
hundred tons burthen and requiring some three 
fathoms of water. He was in no physical condition 
for the arduous efforts and excitements of this im- 
portant voyage. He had hoped to find rest in Spain, 
but had been tried to the last degree b}^ anxiety, grief, 
and vexation. Now, as he encountered the damp, 
sultry weather of the tropics, he was on the very 
verge of nervous prostration, and was soon down with 
a most painful attack of the gout and a high fever. 
But his mind remained unclouded, and he kept up his 
reckonings and very interesting observations. 

The foggy atmosphere and barren landscape of the 
Cape Verde Islands when the ships arrived, June 27th, 
had a most depressing effect on him and his crews. 
The inhabitants looked sallow and morbid, " neither 
sun nor star " was to be seen, and the goat's flesh 
needed for provisioning his ships, and the cattle for 
stocking Hispaniola, were hard to get, so, on July 5th, 
he stood away to the southwest for the equinoctial 
line. Adverse currents kept him for two daj^s near 
the Island del Fuego, the high volcanic summit of 
which resembled, in the distance, a church with a tall 
steeple. This was the last point of land which melted 
away in the horizon. 



HEAT UNDER THE EQUATOR. 331 

July 15th, he was in the 5th degree north latitude, 
and so within that belt of almost dead calm which 
extends for some ten degrees on either side of the 
equator. This is caused by the converging currents 
of trade-winds, on either side, neutralizing each other. 
The sea was smooth as glass, and the air so scorching 
hot that the tar dripped from the rigging ; " the seams 
of the ships yawmed ; the salt-meat became putrid ; 
the wheat was parched as if with fire ; the hoops 
shrank from the wine- and water-casks, some of which 
leaked and others burst ; while the heat in the holds 
of the vessels was so suffocating that no one could 
remain below^ a suf&cient time to prevent the damage 
that was taking place. The mariners lost all strength 
and spirits, and sank under the oppressive heat. It 
seemed as if the old fable of the torrid zone was about 
to be realized, and that the}- were approaching a fiery 
region, where it would be impossible to exist. It is 
true the heavens were for a great part of the time 
overcast, and there were drizzling showers, but the 
atmosphere was close and stifling, and there was that 
combination of heat and moisture which relaxes all 
the energies of the human frame. ^ 

Columbus now changed his course, bearing away to 
the southwest, in order to escape the insufferable heat. 
He was now approaching that mysterious line run- 
ning north and south one hundred leagues west of the 
Azores, crossing which he invariably found such a 
remarkable change in sea and sky and air, all nature 
there becoming so much more mild and refreshing. 
The present voyage was no exception. He soon 

1 Irving's Columbus, vol. ii, pp. 116, 117. 



332 



TRINIDAD. 



emerged into tins reanimating region. The clouds 
broke, the sun shone, and a cool, invigorating breeze 
filled the sails. Columbus would have been glad to 
have borne away still farther to the south, but the 
ships were letting in the water through their gaping 
seams, the provisions were spoiling, and the water was 
Avell-nigh exhausted. So he followed the flight of 
birds and other favorable indications directly to the 
v/est. 

Day after day passed, and yet no land met their 
anxious gaze along the horizon. The crews became 
impatient, and the ships were turned north in search 
of the Caribbee islands. It is midday, on the 31st 
of July, and there is but one cask of water in each 
ship, when a sailor at the mast-head gives the joyful 
cry of " Land ! " Three mountain peaks peer above 
the sea. As the ships approach, these unite in one 
solid mountain at the base. How suofQ^-estive ! Co- 
lumbus had already decided to name the first land dis- 
covered on this voyage Trinidad, after the sacred 
Trinity ; and lo ! here, as if by a strange coincidence, 
is the triple-peaked mountain pointing heavenward ! 
The Salva Regina is said or sung by all the crews, 
and the squadron makes for the southeastern extremity 
of the island, which looks so much like a galley under 
sail that he names it Punta de la Galera. 

He begins the month of August by coasting along 
the beautiful southern shore, with its groves of palms 
sweeping down to the very edge of the water. Here, 
too, are delightful fountains and running streams. 
If the shores are low and uninhabited, there are 
scattered hamlets and signs of cultivation in many 




TRINIDAD. 



334 ^^^ <^^^^^ O^ ^^^ SHORE. 

parts of tlie more elevated interior. They sail five 
leagues before they can find a safe harbor to careen 
the ships. But the climate is so delightful, every 
thing is so fresh and green, and there is such a sweet 
odor from off the land that the crews can only think 
of " the delights of early spring in the beautiful 
province of Valencia." 

But the ships must have fresh water. So the boats 
go ashore at a point named Punta de la Ploya, and 
£11 their Vasks at a silvery brook ; but there is no 
harbor nor people, only tracks — of men and goats, as 
they suppose, one of which animals — no doubt deer, 
in which the island was afterwards found to abound — 
they find dead. Very soon they see the shore on the 
opposite side stretching away some twenty leagues — 
the low land about the mouths of the Orinoco, their 
first sight of the South American continent, but they 
think it an island and call it La Isla Santa ! 

They must have sailed rapidly, for b}^ the 2d of 
August they were at the southwest point of Trinidad, 
which Columbus named Point Arenal. A correspond- 
ing point of the mainland stretched toward it, forming 
a narrow pass, with a formidable rock in the centre. 
Near here they cast anchor and meet a large canoe 
with twenty-four or five Indians putting off from the 
shore. At the distance of a bow-shot the Indians stop 
and try to communicate, but no one can understand 
them. The Spaniards get out their wares — glittering- 
trinkets, looking-glasses and basins of polished copper, 
•and elegant little hawk's bells. But the more they are 
called so much the more do they suspect craft and 
deceit, and gradually move backwards. For more than 



A SHOWER OF ARROWS. 33^ 

two hours, paddles in hand, they stare, ready to be off 
at any moment in case of approach. They are an exhi- 
bition for an artist — beautifully formed young men, 
naked as Apollo Belvidere, except a slight cotton turban 
about the head, so bright and pretty that it reminded 
Columbus of the Moorish head-dresses, and a party- 
colored cloth of the same material about the loins. 
They have bows, and their arrows are feathered and 
tipped with bone, and their large wooden bucklers are 
the first which have been found among the natives. 

But gifts do not appeal strongly enough to the e3^e 
of these savages to bring them near, therefore the 
Admiral will try music and dancing — they ar^ always 
fond of dancing, especially to the sound of their rude 
wooden drums. So he orders some of his ship-boys 
onto the high poop of his ship, to dance, while one 
sang to the stroke of the tabor and other musical 
instruments. But this happens to be the wrong move. 
The Indians mistake it for a signal of battle, and 
" in the twinkling of an eye "they have dropped their 
paddles, adjusted bows and bucklers, and let fly their 
arrows. The Spaniards discharge several of their 
cross-bows, and the Indians beat a quick retreat. As 
they run under the stern of one of the smaller ships 
the pilot throws a cap and a mantle to the one w^ho is 
most prominent, and he makes signs for his benefactor 
to follow them to the shore as the}' land. The pilot 
went to the flag-ship to ask permission, and the 
Indians, suspicious of danger, boarded their canoe and 
^' fled as swift as the wind." The}' were not seen 
again. 

But how to account for these charmingly formed 



336 



A DELIGHTFUL CLIMATE. 



3^ourig men of sucli fair complexion — fairer than the 
natives farther north, it would seem, or the Spaniards 
themselves, indeed — was a puzzle to Columbus. Was 
he not in the seventh degree of latitude, as he sup- 
posed ? — really in the tenth. Why, then, according to 
Ferrer the lapidary, were not the people ill-shapen and 
black, with crisped hair ? These people had beautiful 
straight hair, which, by the way, they did not braid, 
as did the Indians of Cuba and Hispaniola. The 
temperature, too, was unaccountable. In these dog- 
days of the equator, the daj^s even were refreshing, 
and the nights and mornings were positively cool. 
Indeed, the crews were in a state of delectation as they 
went ashore in this salubrious climate, after their long 
confinement at sea in the suffocating calms of the 
torrid zone. It is true they can find no gurgling 
springs or running water, but they sink pits in the 
sand, and soon fill their casks. 

But the Admiral is uneasy because of the bad 
anchorage. A rapid current is constantly setting in 
from the east like the torrents of a great river, remind- 
ing him of the furious, swollen floods of the Guadal- 
quivir. This would make any return of the fleet very 
difficult ; and the pass between the approaching points 
of the mainland and Trinidad, about two leagues 
across, which he names the Mouth of the Serpent, is 
most dangerously forbidding. Here the current from 
the east — the great Gulf Stream from the coast of 
Africa — meets the outrushing floods of the Orinoco^ 
and forms tremendous breakers, thundering as if on 
reefs and shoals of rocks. At a late hour of the nighty 
wakeful with pain and anxiously watching every 



THE DRAGON'S MOUTH. 



337 



phenomenon in this new and strange part of the world, 
he was startled by a most amazing manifestation of 
the forces of nature. He says, " I heard an awful 
roaring that came from the south towards the ship ; I 
stopped to observe what it might be, and I saw the sea 
rolling from west to east like a mountain as high as 
the ship, and approaching by little and little ; on the 
top of this rolling sea came a mighty wave roaring 
with a frightful noise and the same terrific uproar as 
the other currents, producing, as I have already said, 
a sound as of breakers upon the rocks. To this day I 
have a vivid recollection of the dread I then felt lest 
the ship might founder under the force of that tremen- 
dous sea ; but it passed by and reached the mouth of the 
before-mentioned passage, where the uproar lasted for 
a considerable time." 

The nature of this tempest in the Dragon's Mouth 
must be ascertained, so boats were sent the next morn- 
ing to sound the pass and learn if these roaring 
waters were breakers on rocks or opposing currents, 
or what. On the return the pilot reported, to the great 
joy of all, that the waters were deep, and that the 
currents and eddies set in from both directions. As 
the wind was favorable, the ships soon made trial of 
the pass, and dropped safely into a large tranquil sea 
on the other side. They followed the magnificent 
curve of the western side of Trinidad, the great and 
unknown Gulf of Paria stretching away to the west. 
Some one tasted the water, and great was their sur- 
prise to find it almost as fresh and sweet as that of a 
river. As they approached the northwest point of 
Trinidad, about 14 leagues from Point Arenal, a moun- 



338 



A BEAUTIFUL COAST. 



tainous point loomed up just a little to the west. It 
was the long, narrow stretch of the mainland which 
bounds the Gulf of Paria on the north. Here, between 
this point in the west and the northeastern end of 
Trinidad, the currents met again, forming a more 
dangerous strait than the Mouth of the Serpent, since 
it contained great rocky islands. So the Admiral 
called it the Mouth of the Dragon. 

This he did not wish to encounter. Sailing, there- 
fore, toward the west, on Sunday of August 5th he 
concluded to pass this supposed island, which he named 
Gracia, at the west end, and sail directly north for 
Hispaniola. How intensely the crews must have been 
charmed with the salubrious climate and the entranc- 
ing mountainous landscape. All along, the coast was 
indented with excellent harbors. Stately forests 
crowned the immense elevations of hill and plain, and 
there were numerous streams of water. In many 
places there was more or less cultivation, and the most 
luscious fruits grew wild in abundance. Two things 
particularly surprised the Admiral — the delightful 
placidity and the i7iC7'easi7ig freshness of the sea. 

How desirous he was of meeting the inhabitants of 
these parts. But everywhere they eluded him. Au- 
gust 6th, they entered a harbor. Here were signs of 
cultivation, and the boats were sent ashore ; but the 
inhabitants had fled. There were recent signs enough 
of human habitation, but all was deserted and silent. 
But there were many monkeys climbing and chatter- 
ing in those beautiful and fruitful groves on the moun- 
tain sides. 

They continued toward the west, and, finding the 



THE NATIVES. 339 

country more level, anchored in the mouth of a river. 
Here a canoe with some three Indians came off to 
meet them. As they approached the nearest caravel, 
the captain made as if he would go to land with them, 
but jumped on their canoe in such a wa}^ as to upset 
it, and the natives, being precipitated into the water, 
were captured before they could escape. Taken to 
the Admiral's ship, they were treated to beads, hawk's 
bells, and sugar. They were delighted, and went 
ashore to attract their acquaintances. Other canoes 
now approached the ships. The natives were tall, 
comely, and graceful as wild animals in their move- 
ments. They had bows and arrows and targets. The 
men, as heretofore, had bright-colored cotton cloths 
around the head and loins, the colors being so delicate 
as to resemble silk in the distance. The women were 
entirely naked. They brought provisions of the kinds 
common to the natives, but they also brought delicious 
drinks, resembling beer and wine. Why do they 
smell of everything — even the boat, the people, and 
pieces of brass ? This is their way of examining and 
testing things. They care but little for beads, but are 
delighted with those tinkling hawk's bells. They are 
also charmed with brass ; and, holding it to their noses, 
call it tu7^ey — that is, " from heaven." 

From these Indians Columbus understood that the 
name of their country was Paria, and that farther to 
the west he would find it more populous. Taking 
several of them to serve as guides and mediators, he 
proceeded eight leagues westward to a point which he 
called Aguja, or the Needle. Here he arrived at three 
o'clock in the morning. When the daj^ dawned he 



340 



GOLD AND PEARLS. 



was delighted with the beauty of the country. It was 
cultivated in many places, highly populous, and 
adorned with magnificent vegetation ; habitations were 
interspersed among groves laden with fruits and flow- 
ers ; grape-vines entwined themselves among the trees, 
and birds of brilliant plumage fluttered among the 
branches. The air was temperate and bland and 
sweetened by the fragrance of flowers and blossoms, 
and numerous fountains and limpid streams kept up a 
universal verdure and freshness. Columbus was so 
much charmed with the beauty and amenity of this 
part of the coast that he gave it the name of " The 
Gardens."^ What a tour this would have been for a 
naturalist ! 

Now the shores teemed with the canoes of the 
natives — canoes much superior to any they had yet 
seen — larger, lighter, and with a sort of cabin in the 
middle. The natives, who urged the Admiral in the 
name of their cacique to come to land, were quite 
highly ornamented. They had about their necks, in 
collars and burnished plates, considerable gold of a 
rather poor quality, which could be found among the 
hills not far away. Other ornaments of the same 
metal they had. One Indian had a mass as big as an 
apple. But what have those females for garlands on 
their heads, necklaces, and bracelets? Nothing less 
than pearls ; and they show the Spaniards the shells — 
mother-of-pearl — from which these have been taken. 
Peter Martyr says that these Indian women had 
pearls in such great abundance that the Spanish 
Vv^omen " in plays and triumphs had not greater plenty 

^Irving's Columbus, vol. ii, p. 127. 



AN INDIAN ENTER TAINMENT. 341 

of stones of glass and crystal in their garlands, 
crowns, girdles, and sucli other tirements. Being asked 
where they gathered them, they pointed to the next 
shore by the sea-banks. They signified, also, by cer- 
tain scornful gestures which the}^ made with their 
mouths and hands, that they nothing esteemed pearls. 
Taking, also, baskets in their hands, the}^ made signs 
that the same might be filled with them in short 
space." 

This so excited Columbus and his crews that he sent 
boats ashore to gather information, and also to get 
pearls to be sent to Spain. Now, not only the multi- 
tude, which Peter Martyr says " came flocking to 
them by heaps, but also the cacique and his son came 
to greet the strangers just come down from heaven. 
The}' brought them into the large house of the 
cacique — not built in the round, wigwam style, so com- 
mon among the natives, but having a front and ends — 
fa9ades — quite architectural and large for that coun- 
try — and having seated them on stools of ebony, finely 
carved, gave them bread, the most luscious fruits, and 
their native beers and wines, both white and red.^ 
During this entertainment the women were in one end 
of the house and the men in the other, in the manner 
of a meeting of the Friends. The strangers are next 
taken to the house of the cacique's son and feasted 
again. 

These people made a most unique impression on the 
Spaniards, they were so aJBfable, so martial in their 

^Columbus takes pains to say that these wines were " not made of grapes, 
but apparently produced from diflferent fruits. The most reasonable infer- 
ence is that they use maize." 



342 HOW PEARLS GROW I 

bearing, so keen-eyed and intelligent, so nnlike the 
coarse, black people Columbus expected to find here, 
almost under the equator. They brought presents, 
as everywhere else ; parrots of various colors, some 
large as domestic fowls. They also brought the 
much-coveted pearls, which they readily exchanged 
for hawk's bells and brass. The finest of the pearls 
were selected to be sent to the sovereigns of Spain. 
When they were questioned as to where they found 
these pearls with which nearly all the women were so 
finely ornamented, " they pointed to certain moun- 
tains," says Peter Martyr, " seeming with their 
countenances to dissuade our men from going thither ; 
for putting their arms in their mouths, and grinning 
as though they bit the same, still pointing to the 
mountains, they seemed to insinuate that men were 
eaten there, but whether they meant by cannibals or 
wild beasts our men could not perceive." 

" They took it exceedingly grievously," says the 
same author, " that they could neither understand our 
men nor our men them." Perhaps no intercourse 
between the Spaniards and natives was ever more novel 
and pleasing than this. But Columbus is desirous of 
getting around the western end of this supposed 
island called Gracia, so he sails away, dreaming 
about pearls, according to the habit of his quick 
imagination. Did not Pliny say that pearls were 
generated from drops of dew which fell into the open 
mouths of oysters ? This country had an abundance 
of dew, and oysters so abundant that a branch lying 
in the water would become laden with them, and the 
mangrove trees growing along the shore and laving 



SUFI^BRINGS OF THE ADMIRAL. 343 

their boiiglis in the tranquil waters would soon be 
clustered with them. Las Casas, commenting on 
these flights of fancy in the Admiral, notices that 
these oysters dwelling in shallow waters do not produce 
pearls ; but that this valuable kind, " by a natural 
instinct, as if conscious of their precious charge, hide 
themselves in the deepest waters."^ 

About the loth of August the crews discerned 
points of the mainland to the west of the Gulf of 
Paria, and thought they were now nearing an outlet 
between islands. But the water became so shallow 
that the flag-ship, drawing three fathoms, could 
venture no further. A light caravel was sent on to 
find the supposed outlet, but it returned the next day 
reporting simply gulfs and mouths of rivers with an 
abundance of fresh water. There was no choice of 
way. The fleet must go back and out at the Mouth 
of the Dragon. Nor could there be any delay, much 
as he might desire to explore this promising region, 
for his sea-stores were failing and the supplies for 
Hayti were in danger of damaging. His gout, too, was 
insufferable, and the accustomed inflammation of his 
eyes had become so serious with constant watching and 
loss of sleep that he writes, " never were my eyes so 
much affected with bleeding or so painful as at this 
period." There was even danger of a repetition of the 
entire nervous prostration experienced on his return 
from the south of Cuba. 

The sails were spread for the Mouth of the Dragon on 
the nth of August, and the fleet was borne along so 
rapidly by the currents of fresh water on their way to 

^Las Casas, Hist. Ind., cap. 136. 



344 



A DIFFICULT PASS. 



the sea tliat by Sunday, the 13th, they cast anchor 
near the outlet, in a fair harbor, the neighborhood of 
which so abounded with monke3^s that he named it 
after them — Puerto de Gatos. Here were mangroves 
loaded with oysters, their mouths being open to catch 
the dew ! The pass of the Mouth of the Dragon, some 
five leagues across, would have been wide enough, had 
it not been for the islands which blocked its current and 
increased the stupendous billows which, contending 
with each other, threatened to engulf his frail ships. 
Were these angry waves breakers on shoals of rock, or 
were they simply the commotion of immense currents 
opposed to each other — the fresh water struggling to get 
out and the ocean contending to come in ? There was 
neither pilot nor chart to guide these first ships of dis- 
covery. Columbus, having studied the situation and the 
action of the waters carefully, concluded to make trial 
of the passage, especially as a fresh breeze was now 
favorable. The wind died away, however, while he was 
yet in the tempest of the straits, but he was safely 
carried through by the sweeping currents into the open 
sea beyond. The Admiral, with his usual skill in 
observation, now conjectured that the currents and the 
overwhelming mountains of water which rushed into 
these straits with such an awful roaring arose from the 
contest between the fresh water and the sea. The fresh 
water struggled with the salt to oppose its entrance, and 
the salt contended against the fresh in its efforts to gain 
a passage into the gulf. 

Still conceiving this point to be an island, and skirt- 
ing it to the west, he expected to find a gulf of pearls at 
its western end. Passing a number of islands and many 



DISS A TISFA C TION ABOUT PEARLS. 345 

fine harbors, on the 15th he came upon the islands Cu- 
bagua and Margarita. Here he found a number of 
Indians fishing for pearls. These fled, and a boat 
being sent in pursuit of them, there was noticed a 
female with many strings of pearls about her neck. 
One of the sailors having a porcelain plate painted in 
^audy colors, broke it in pieces, and succeeded in bar- 
tering it away for quite a number of the much-coveted 
ornaments. The Admiral then sent a number of pretty 
plates on shore, and also hawk's bells, which were 
readily taken in exchange for about three poimds of 
pearls^ some of which, being quite large, were sent to the 
King and Queen of Spain. Bernaldez says that when 
he " discovered the Pearl Islands he would allow the 
men to keep nothing for themselves, except a trifle as a 
specimen. This produced great dissatisfaction among 
the sailors, because he had told them that whatever 
God should give them or throw in their way he would 
share with them ; whereas he now said that the King 
and Queen had sent them on this voyage to make dis- 
coveries, and not to enrich themselves." This only 
shows that new conditions had arisen, and that the Ad- 
miral had grown wiser since the making of the above 
promise, which probabl}^ occurred on the first voyage. 

Great was the temptation to explore these regions 
still further, for the natives mentioned other places 
in the vicinity which they said abounded in pearls. 
And that magnificent range of mountains stretching 
westward along the coast of Paria as far as one could 
see ! — might it not be a part of the mainland of Asia ? 
But the time was come to return to Hispaniola. His 
presence was greatly needed there, and he was well- 



346 A GREA T CONTINENT. 

nigh exhausted by the hardships of his voyage. His 
eyes were now so diseased that he was obliged to give 
lip all observations, even the ordinary lookout hav- 
ing to be entrusted to his pilots. 

But if the external vision was closed almost to total 
blindness, reflection and deductive reasoning were 
active. His recent observations, so novel and so pro- 
foundly impressive, in this hitherto undiscovered part 
of the world, were extremely suggestive and furnished 
material for several very remarkable conceptions and 
generalization s. 

First. The immense torrents of fresh water rushing 
into the Gulf of Paria indicated a continent of incalcu- 
lable extent to the west and south. It must be that 
most of the land he had seen about that body of water 
was in some way connected, the shore to the west of 
Margarita trending away immeasurably to the west, and 
the land to the west of the Mouth of the Serpent run- 
ning south beyond the equator, and so including an 
immense unexplored territory of the most precious com- 
modities, such as Ferrer had located along the equator. 
So the old writers, Aristotle, Seneca, St. Augustin, and 
Cardinal Aliaco, must be correct in supposing the 
greater part of the globe to be land — perhaps six parts 
out of seven, as Bsdras of the Apocrypha had said. 
Who could tell what benignant stars might shine on 
this boundless, unknown continent? Happy he who 
should open up its treasures to the civilized world ! 

These stupendous ocean currents — compared with 
which earth's mightiest rivers are but rivulets — taking, 
by some mysterious forces, a well-defined course through 
the great seas — especially that great equatorial current 



OCEAN CURRENTS. 347 

— were they not sculptors of the landscape, cutting off 
portions of the mainland, and thus fringing the conti- 
nents with islands ? Else why do these islands invari- 
ably lie lengthwise with the currents ? What a reve- 
lation to him would have been the earth's grand sys- 
tem of ocean cuj-rcjifs as we now understand them ! But 
more wonderful still would have been his supposed great 
continent to the west and south, as well as all the con- 
tinental lands and the islands of that half of the globe 
discovered by his wonderful genius, courage, and 
energy ! 

But we must not fail to notice still another striking 
conception, which, however much the learned of to-day 
may ridicule it, was by no means a stupid generaliza- 
tion, if we consider how little was then known of the 
shape and contents of the earth. The facts in nature 
which he co-ordinated all lent themselves readily 
enough to his hypothesis as to the form of the earth's 
surface in the absence of that knowledge of other facts 
which have since corrected it. Is it too much to say 
that deductions far more absurd have been made by 
philosophical speculators of the greatest authority in 
our own day ? 

" I have always read," he says, *' that the world 
comprising the land and the water was spherical, and 
the recorded experiences of Ptolemy and all others 
have proved this by the eclipses of the moon, and 
other observations made from east to west, as well as 
by the elevation of the pole from north to south. But, 
as I have already described, I have now seen so much 
irregularity that I have come to another conclusion 
respecting the earth, namely, that it is not round as 



348 THE EARTH PEAR-SHAPED. 

they describe, but of the form of a pear, which is very 
round except where the stalk grows, at which part it 
is most prominent ; or like a round ball, upon one 
part of which is a prominence like a woman's nipple, 
this protrusion being the highest and nearest the sky, 
situated under the equinoctial line, and at the eastern 
extremity of the sea — I call that the eastern extremity 
where the land and the islands end. In confirmation 
of my opinion, I refer to the arguments which I have 
above detailed respecting the line which passes from 
north to south a hundred degrees west of the Azores ; 
for in sailing thence westward the ships went on ris- 
ing smoothly towards the sky, and then the weather 
was felt to be milder, on account of which mildness 
the needle shifted one point of the compass ; the 
further we went the more the needle moved to the 
northwest, this elevation producing the variation of 
the circle which the North star describes with its 
satellites, and the nearer I approached the equinoctial 
line the more they rose and the greater was the 
difference in these stars and in their circles. Ptolemy 
and the other philosophers who have written upon the 
globe thought that it was spherical, believing that 
this hemisphere was round as well as that in which 
the}^ themselves dwelt, the centre of which was in the 
island of Arin,^ which is under the equinoctial line, 
between the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Persia ; and 
the circle passes over Cape St. Vincent, in Portugal, 

1 "A misspelling," sa^'s Major, "not infrequent in those days, for the 
sacred city (not island) of Odjein or Ongrin, in Malwa, whence the Indians 
reckoned their first meridian." 



THE PROOF OF THE PEAR-SHAPE. 34^ 

westward, and eastward by Cangara and the Seras/ in 
wliicli hemisphere I make no difficulty as to its being 
a perfect sphere as they describe ; but this western 
half of the world, I maintain, is like the half of a very 
round pear, having a raised projection for the stalk, as 
I have already described, or like a woman's nipple on 
a very round ball. Ptolemy and the others who have 
written upon the globe had no information respecting 
this part of the world, which was then unexplored \ 
they only established their arguments with respect ta 
their own hemisphere, which, as I have already said, 
is half of a perfect sphere. And now that your High- 
nesses have commissioned me to make this vo37age of 
discovery, the truths which I have stated are evidently 
proved, because in this voyage, when I was off the 
island of Hargin^ and its vicinity, which is twenty 
degrees to the north of the equinoctial line, I found 
the people are black, and the land very much burnt ; 
and when, after that, I went to the Cape Verde Islands, 
I found the people there much darker still, and the 
more southward we went the more they approach the 
extreme of blackness ; so that when I reached the 
parallel of Sierra Leone, where, as night came on, the 
North star rose five degrees, the people there were 
excessively black ; and as I sailed westward the heat 
became extreme. But, after I had passed the meridian 
or line which I have already described, I found the 
climate become gradually more temperate ; so that 
when I reached the island of Trinidad, where the 
North star rose five degrees as night came on, there 
and in the land of Gracia I found the temperature 

^Japan and China. *Arguin, west of Africa. 



350 ^ MESSENGER TO DON BARTHOLOMEW. 

exceedingly mild ; the fields and the foliage likewise 
were remarkably fresh and green, and as beautiful as 
the gardens of Valencia in April. The people there 
are very graceful in form, less dark than those whom 
I had before seen in the Indies, and wear their hair 
long and smooth ; they are also more shrewd, intelli- 
gent and courageous. The sun was then in the sign 
of Virgo, over our heads and theirs ; therefore all this 
must proceed from the extreme blandness of the tem- 
perature, which arises, as I have said, from this coun- 
try being the most elevated in the world, and the 
nearest to the sky."^ 

On the 19th of August the Admiral's ships reached 
Hispaniola, fifty leagues west of the new port at the 
mouth of the Ozema. The strong currents, of which 
he had not yet learned the full force, had carried him 
far out of his intended course during the less watch- 
ful hours of the night. It v/as impossible to conjecture 
how much these currents might retard his sailing east- 
ward ; so he landed in order to find a messenger, who 
might carry a letter to the adelantado by land, thus 
advising the latter of his safe arrival. At once Bar- 
tholomew started in a caravel to meet the Admiral. 

Meanwhile the latter was not a little uneasy, for he 
had seen a native carrying a cross-bow. This was not 
an article to be sold or given away by the Spaniards. 
Might it not indicate some calamity like that of La 
Navidad ? In order to form some conception of the 
intelligence which Bartholomew was to bring the 
Admiral, let us go back a few years and learn the 
fortunes of the adelantado in governing the colony. 

1 Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, describing his third voyage. See 
Select Letters of Christopher Columbus, by R. H. Major. 




CHAPTER XVI. 

THE ADELANTADO AND ROLDAN. 

ARTHOLOMEW COLUMBUS was a man of 
great resolution and energy. As soon as 
the Admiral had departed for Spain, in 
March, 1496, placing his brother Diego over the affairs 
of Isabella, he mustered a force of over four hundred 
men, and marched to the south side of the island in 
order to develop the gold-mines of Hayna — the sup- 
posed Ophir of Solomon. On a site abounding in ore 
he built a fort named San Christoval ; but the work- 
men, on account of the golden grains which gleamed 
in the rocks and in the sands, called it the Golden 
Tower. 

In three months this large force had erected the 
fortress and gotten the mining and purifying of the 
ore under way. But so many men could not be easily 
supported in the wilderness, especially in such a moun- 
tainous country. Nor did the natives any longer bring 
their fish, fruits, and cassava-bread ; for by this time 
some doubt had arisen in their minds as to the heavenly 
origin of these men — so cruel, so licentious, so eager 
for gold. Bartholomew, therefore, left but ten men to 
guard the fortress, with a dog to catch the little rat- 
like utia ; and taking the four hundred into the neigh- 
borhood of Fort Conception, in the Vega Real, he 
called on the cacique, Guarionex, for supplies while he 
collected tribute. A generous man this Indian poten- 



352 



SHIPS WITH SUPPLIES ARRIVE. 



tate must have been, to feed this multitude of foreign- 
ers, with such capacious stomachs, and pay tax at the 
same time. 

But in the course of a month — some time in July — 
Nino arrived from Spain with his three ship-loads of 
men and supplies. As was generally the case in cross- 
ing the Atlantic, much of the provisions had spoiled, 
and thus the colony failed to receive the full measure 
of relief it so greatly needed ; for, after nearly five 
years of colonial life in this genial climate, in this 
land of great and quick resources, hunger still pre- 
vailed. 

These ships, it will be remembered, brought letters 
from the Admiral — letters written under the sharp 
impulses received when coming in contact with the 
unhappy public sentiment in Spain. Two points 
needed immediate attention — the gold-mines at Hayna^ 
must be developed, and such of the native rulers and 
their subjects as had been involved in the death of 
the Spaniards — for so the theologians had decided — 
might be sent to Spain as slaves. At once three hun- 
dred of these poor unfortunates passed over the gang- 
ways into the ship, to be delivered as " gold in bars " 
on reaching the home slave-market, and, with a new sup- 
ply of provisions, the adelantado set out for the mouth 
of the Ozema, by way of San Christoval. " They 
affirm this river," says Peter Martyr, " to have many 
benefits of nature ; for, wheresoever it runneth, all 
things are exceedingly pleasant and fruitful, having 
on every side groves of date trees and divers other of 
the island fruits so plentifully that, as they sailed along 
by the shore, oftentimes the branches thereof, laden 



THE NE W CITY. 



353 



witli flowers and fruits, hung so over their heads that 
they might pluck them with their hands." 

Here, at the mouth of the Ozema, was a natural 
haven, with a fine entrance, deep water, and a good 
bottom to hold the anchor. On the eastern side, there- 
fore, he located his sea-port, San Domingo ;^ for here 
-was pure water, an abundance of fish, and a fertile 
country. The site must have been well chosen, for, 
after four hundred years, the city is still flourishing as 
the capital of a republic. The female cacique of this 
locality, bride of Miguel Diaz, who had invited the 
white men to locate here, gave them a cordial recep- 
tion, and ever proved faithful to her promises. 

The first building, a fortress, was soon completed ; 
and the adelantado, leaving twenty men as a garrison, 
took his large force into Zaragua, the most western 
province of the island, in order to adjust the tribute to 
be levied on the cacique, Behechio, and his subjects, 
that province not yet having been consulted on this 
important matter. 

This was a most beautiful and fertile region, and 
the inhabitants were noted for their fine ph3''sique, 
intelligence, and graceful manners. " With this 
cacique resided Anacaona, widow of the late formida- 
ble Caonabo. She was sister to Behechio, and had 
taken refuge with her brother after the capture of her 
husband. She was one of the most beautiful females 
of the island ; her name in the Indian language signi- 
fied ' The Golden Flower.' " She " possessed a genius 
superior to the generality of her race, and was said to 
excel in composing those little legendary ballads, or 

^ This city was first called Nueva Isabella — New Isabella. 



354 AATACAOJVA. 

areytos, whicli the natives chanted as they performed 
their national dances. All the Spanish writers agree 
in describing her as possessing a natural dignity and 
grace hardly to be credited in her ignorant and savage 
condition. Notwithstanding the ruin with which her 
husband had been overwhelmed by the hostility of the 
white men, she appears to have entertained no vindic- 
tive feelings toward them, knowing that he had pro- 
voked their vengeance by his own voluntary warfare. 
She regarded the Spaniards with admiration, as almost 
superhuman beings, and her intelligent mind per- 
ceived the futility and impolicy of any attempt to 
resist their superiority in arts and arms. Having 
great influence over her brother Behechio, she coun- 
selled him to take warning by the fate of her husband 
and to conciliate the friendship of the Spaniards ; and 
it is supposed that a knowledge of the friendly senti- 
ments and powerful influences of this princess in a 
great measure prompted the adelantado to his present 
expedition."^ 

Irving has posed this Indian queen so gracefully 
that we could not refrain from quoting him. We will 
now quote Peter Martyr, as translated by Eden — all 
but the old style of spelling — as to the appearance of 
the adelantado and his men in Zaragua, after collect- 
ing tribute on their way, and cutting down the great 
Brazil trees and storing them. "When the king had 
espied our men, laying apart his weapons^ and giving 

^Irving's Columbus, vol. 2, pp. 152, 153. 

^The cacique had come out with a great army equipped with bows and 
arrows and club-like lances ; but the military array of the Spaniards — their 
cavalry in front, followed by the infantry, all marching to the sound of drum 
and trumpet — had quite daunted him. 



ARRANGING THE TAX. 3^5 

signs of peace, he spoke gently to them (uncertain 
whether it were humanity or fear), and demanded of 
them what they would have. The lieutenant answered 
that he should pay tribute to the Admiral, his brother, 
in the name of the Christian King of Spain. To 
whom he said, ' How can j^ou require that of me, 
whereas never a region under my dominion bringeth 
forth gold ?' For he had heard that there was a strange 
nation entered into the island, which made great search 
for gold. The lieutenant answered again, ' God forbid 
that we should enjoin au}^ man to pay such tribute as 
he might not easil}^ forbear, or such as were not engen- 
dered or growing in the region ; but we understand 
that your regions bring forth great plenty of gossam- 
pine cotton and hemp, with such other, v/hereof we 
desire you to give us part.' When he heard these 
words he promised, with cheerful countenance, to give 
him as much of these as he would require." 

When Bartholomew and his men approached Behe- 
cliio's house, " first, there met him a company of 
thirty women, being all the king's wives and concu- 
bines, bearing in their hands branches of date trees, 
singing and dancing. They were all naked, saving 
that their priv}^ parts were covered with bunches of 
gossampine cotton ; but the virgins, having their hair 
hanging down about their shoulders, tied about their 
foreheads with a fillet, were utterly naked. They 
affirm that their faces, breasts, paps, hands, and other 
parts of their bodies were exceedingly smooth and 
well proportioned, but somewhat inclining to a lovely 
brown. They supposed that they had seen those most 
beautiful dryads or the native nj^mphs or fairies of 



356 



INDIAN AMUSEMENTS. 



tlie fountains whereof the antiques speak so much. 
The branches of date trees which they bore in the right 
hands when they danced they delivered to the lieu- 
tenant, with lowly courtes}^ and smiling countenance. 
Thus entering into the king's house, they found a 
delicate supper prepared for them, after their manner. 
When they were all refreshed with meat, the night 
drawing on, they were brought by the king's officers, 
every man to his lodging, according to his degree, in 
certain of their houses about the palace, where they 
rested them in hanging beds, after the manner of the 
country." 

But the entertainment is not yet over. " The day 
following," says the same author, " they brought our 
men to the common hall, into the which they come 
together as often as they make any notable games or 
triumphs, as we have said before. Here, after many 
dancings, singings, maskings, runnings, wrestlings, 
and other tryings of masteries, suddenly there appeared, 
in a large plain near unto the hall, two great armies 
of men of war, which the king for his pastime had 
caused to be prepared, as the Spaniards use the play 
with reeds, which they call Juga de Canias. As the 
armies drew near together they assailed the one the 
other as fiercely as if mortal enemies, with their ban- 
ners spread, should fight for their goods, their lands, 
their lives, their liberty, their country, their wives and 
their children, so that within the moment of an hour 
four men were slain and many wounded. The battle 
also should have continued longer if the king had 
not, at the request of our men, caused it to cease." 

When Don Bartholomew returned to Isabella, at the 



CONDITION OF THE COLONY. 3^7 

end of summer, he found the colony in a most misera- 
ble condition. The supplies recently brought from 
Spain had been exhausted ; the golden opportunity of 
the spring had been neglected, and, after a five years 
settlement, there was no adequate crop ; and the 
natives had been so outraged that they had abandoned 
the neighborhood, and thus deprived the white men of 
their aid. No one had the sagacity to see that the 
cultivation of so rich a soil in such a stimulating cli- 
mate was a surer source of wealth than hunting for 
pearls, spices, and gold. For want of supplies the 
gold-mines, too, at Hayna were still undeveloped. 
Ever3^body was repining. The sick had no medicine, 
those in health had no bread, and all were loud in their 
complaints against Columbus for tarr3nng at the court 
of Spain while the}^ languished, forgotten even by the 
government. There was not so much as a vessel in 
the harbor to take them home, however much they 
might wish to go — no way of bearing the intelligence 
of their sufferings to their friends on the other side 
of the ocean seas. Here was a state of affairs which 
might indeed tax the ingenuity and the skill of an 
inexperienced ruler over a strange people. 

Evidently there must be some outlook of hope to 
arouse these people. Two caravels, therefore, were 
ordered to be built for the use of the colon3\ The 
line of fortresses between Isabella and San Domingfo 
was completed and garrisoned, and those too ill to be 
of service were quartered in the hamlets about them, 
as well as in other parts of the interior, in order that 
the}^ might enioy a better climate and secure some 
provisions from the natives. Those left behind were 



358 



MISSIONARIES AND THE NATIVES. 



either too ill to be moved or not in sufficient health to 
carry on the affairs of the colony, particularly the 
building of the caravels, and the adelantado returned 
to San Domingo with a considerable body of active 
men. 

For a while all went well with the natives, but there 
soon occurred several incidents which moved them to 
a general insurrection. Two very devoted mission- 
aries had been most earnestly striving for the con- 
version of the natives in the Vega. They had won 
over one family of sixteen persons, the head of which, 
on being baptized, was named Juan Mateo. But the 
grand cacique Guarionex was the chief object of their 
interest. His conversion would greatly influence his 
numerous subjects. These labors were much en- 
couraged when the chieftain and his whole family 
repeated every day the Pater Noster, the Ave Maria, 
and the Creed. But the other chiefs ridiculed him. 
Why should he be imitating the customs of these 
strangers — these tyrannical usurpers ? Still, all this 
might not have influenced him had not a Spanish 
official outraged his favorite wife. It was no easier for 
him than for the more civilized to do otherwise than 
to associate the sins of a people with their professions 
of religion, and he would have nothing to do with a 
religion which seemed to tolerate such crimes. 

The missionaries, becoming discouraged, moved into 
the territory of another cacique. But very soon after 
this departure the little chapel which they had built 
for the family of converts left behind was rudely 
despoiled by the pagan Indians, who stamped the 
images into pieces and buried them in a field. Don 



FIRE AND FAGOT. 3^9 

Bartholomew instituted a suit according to the cruel 
laws and methods of the Inquisition, punishing the 
perpetrators of the sacrilege with death by " fire and 
fagot." Indeed, nature itself was startled at so horrid 
an outrage, they said, for some of the agi roots, 
resembling turnips and radishes, planted in the field 
where the images had been buried, grew in the shape 
of a cross. 

But this signal punishment of the sacrilegious 
natives failed to have any salutary effect. In his 
state of nature, Guarionex was far more susceptible of 
human feelings than of holy horror at a disrespect 
or outrage in regard to any religion whatever. He 
was shocked and horrified at seeing his subjects thus 
tortured and burned at the stake for what seemed to 
him a mere trifling matter. And the other caciques, 
who never looked with favor on these strange customs, 
seeing how he was irritated and provoked, earnestly 
entreated him to take up arms against these horrid 
oppressors. Indeed, it would seem that his subjects 
even threatened to forsake him and set up another 
chief in his place if he failed to take up their cause 
against the Spaniards. 

Thus this chieftain, naturally so kind-hearted and 
peaceable, was about compelled to take up the war- 
club while smarting under his own personal wrongs 
of domestic outrage and cruel persecutions of his sub- 
jects. Then, back of all these provocations, there was 
claimed to be the fulfilment of a prophecy. Guarionex 
belonged to a long line of caciques ; and his father, 
many years before, after five days of fasting, had 
consulted his Zemi., or household deity, as to the 



360 AN INGENIOUS MESSENGER. 

future, and was told that a few years hence there 
should come a strange nation, wearing clothing, which 
should destroy their customs and make them slaves. 

Now Guarionex was ready to join the other caciques 
in making war against their oppressors. The fate of 
Caonabo and the confederation led by his brother was 
fresh in their memories, but they were goaded on by 
despair, for death itself was infinitely better than the 
hopeless oppressions, outrages, and slavery to which 
they had been reduced. The day for paying their 
quarterly tribute was near; then they could come 
together in vast numbers without being suspected, 
and could suddenly massacre their enemies. 

But the Spaniards had long ears, and overheard 
some whispers of the conspiracy at Fort Conception. 

The garrison was a mere handful in the midst of 
the thick of the war-plot. How could they get an 
appeal for aid to the adelantado at San Domingo ? 
" An Indian made use of a stratagem in carrying the 
letters," says Herrera, " which was that they being 
delivered to him in a staff that was hollow at one end 
— the Indians having found by experience that the 
Spanish letters spoke, they endeavored to intercept 
them — and the messenger falling into the hands of 
the guards the revolted had posted on the passes, he 
pretended to be dumb and lame ; in short, answering 
them altogether by signs, and limping as if he was 
going with much difficulty into his own country, he 
escaped them, because they thinking he had been 
dumb asked him no questions, and supposing that the 
staff had been to help him on they did not search 
it, and thus the letters came safe to Don Bartholo- 



CAPTURING THE CACIQUES. 361 

mew Columbus, whicii proved the safety of the 
-Spaniards. 

Don Bartholomew's men, enfeebled by short rations, 
were in no condition for long marches ; but Napoleon 
Bonaparte could scarcely have moved quicker than he 
did for the relief of Fort Conception. Nor did he 
arrive too soon, for thousands of the natives were 
assembled in the Vega, ready for action. The adelan- 
tado held a council of war at the fort, which resulted in 
a plan of operations fully equal to the emergency. The 
several points at which the caciques had distributed 
their forces were noted, and the Spaniards w^ere divided 
into companies of about a hundred each, under a captain, 
there being a company to each cacique and his forces. 
They were to surprise the Indians while asleep at night, 
bind the caciques, and bring them to the fort. As Gua- 
rionex w'as the chief personage, the adelantado was to 
have the honor of capturing him, which he did without 
difficult3\ Indeed, all the Indian quarters were quietly 
entered at midnight and each cacique bound, and before 
daylight — before any of the sleepy Indians could do 
anything for their rescue — fourteen of them were inside 
the fortress. The Indians were so completely non- 
plussed that they made no attempt at resistance ; but a 
great multitude, estimated at five thousand, came around 
the fortress wholly unarmed, and, with dismal lamenta- 
tions and holdings, begged for their chieftains. The 
adelantado inquired into the causes and progress of the 
conspiracy, and put to death the two caciques who had 
done most to bring about the insurrection and to induce 
Guarionex to be its leader. And he recosfnized the 
wrongs this cacique had suffered, as well as his slowness 



362 



CLEMENCY OF THE ADELANTADO. 



in taking revenge, and so pardoned him. Indeed, it 
would seem that he duly punished the Spaniard who 
had committed the domestic outrage which had so deeply 
wounded him. To the remaining caciques he showed a 
forgiving spirit. If they were loyal hereafter, they 
should be rewarded ; if they rebelled, the punishment 
would be severe. This reasonable clemency moved the 
heart of Guarionex. The insurrection had been put 
down almost without bloodshed, and nearly all were 
restored to their freedom. In the grateful emotions of 
the moment, past grievances were forgotten ; and the 
chieftain made a speech to his people. The Spaniards 
were brave and mighty, he said, and they could not 
resist them ; yet how generous and forgiving they 
were to those who were faithful! The natives must 
henceforth cultivate their friendship. These words 
were so inspiring that, when he had concluded, his sub- 
jects bore him away with songs and loud rejoicings. 
Now the Vega v/as quiet for some time. 

The two caravels building at Isabella were approach- 
ing completeness, and the people were not only diverted 
by the process, but looked upon them as messengers of 
hope. Perhaps they would bear them back to Spain. 
At least they might bring them food and medicines. 

If the colonists were not able to work the mines, how 
strange that they were not cultivating the soil ! Idle- 
ness and repining, rather than industry and thrift, seem 
to have been the order of things. 

About this time messengers arrived from Zaragua, 
saying that Behechio and his subordinate caciques had 
their tribute in readiness. Again the adelantado starts 
for that entrancing country, with as numerous a train as 



A N INDIA N FEA S T. 365 

he can command. No doubt lie could enlist more men 
for this tour than for any other. Again Behechio and 
his sister, Anacaona, who seems to have about as much 
authorit}^ as her brother, come out to meet him, well 
attended by their subjects ; and the royal train is en- 
livened by songs and dances. As heretofore, the Span- 
iards are charmed by the intelligence, dignity, beauty, 
and graceful manners of the Indian queen. 

Thirty-two of Behechio's caciques have brought their 
tributes of cotton, the bulk of which has filled a house. 
Having waited some time for him, they greet him most 
cordially, and offer him, in addition to the tribute, all 
the cassava-bread he may wish, which latter is most 
acceptable to the crowd of hungry Spaniards. Peter 
Martyr implies that they had also corn-bread, as well as 
uh'as and dried fishes, not to speak of the delicate ser- 
pents — or iguanas. He says that " unto that day none 
of them (the Spaniards) durst adventure to taste of 
them, by reason of their horrible deformity and loath- 
someness. Yet the lieutenant, being enticed by the 
pleasantness of the king's sister, determined to taste 
of the serpents. But when he felt the flesh thereof 
to be so delicate to his tongue, he fell to amain without 
all fear ; the which thing his companions perceiving, 
were not behind him in greediness, insomuch that they 
had now no other talk than of the sweetness of these 
serpents, which they affirm to be of more pleasant taste 
than either our pheasants or partridges. They say, 
also, that there is no meat to be compared to the eggs 
of these serpents." 

The adelantado is so loaded down with tribute and 
presents that he must needs send to Isabella for one of 



364 



AJVACAOJVA'S TREASURES. 



his new caravels to carr}^ it all home. We wonder if 
the caravel came too soon for the pleasure of himself 
and his men ! 

The ship has arrived and is anchored in the harbor, 
six miles away. Anacaona must see the big canoe and 
so persuades her brother to go with her. On the way 
they call at the treasure-house. " Her treasure," says 
our author above quoted, "was neither gold, silver, 
nor precious stones, but only things necessary to be used, 
as chairs, stools, settles, dishes, pottingers, pots, pans, 
basins, trays, and such other household stuff and instru- 
ments, workmanly made of a certain black and hard 
shining w^ood, which that excellent and learned physi- 
cian, John Baptist Elisius, af&rmeth to be ebony. 
Whatsoever portion of wit nature hath given to the in- 
habitants of these islands, the same doth most appear 
in this kind of works, in which they show great art 
and cunning ; but those which this woman had were 
made in the Island of Guanabba, situated in the mouth 
of a bay on the west side of Hispaniola. In these 
they grave the lively images of such fantasies as they 
suppose they see walking by night, which the antiques 
call lemures ; also the images of men, serpents, beasts, 
and whatsoever thing they have once seen." Then, 
addressing the person to whom his work is dedicated, 
Peter Martyr says, " What would you think, most 
noble prince, that they could do if they had the use of 
iron and steel ? For they only first make these soft 
in the fire, and afterwards make them hollow and 
carve them with a certain stone which they find on the 
rivers. Of stools and chairs she gave the lieutenant 
fourteen, and of vessels pertaining to the table and 



THE BIG CANOE. 



365 



kitchen she gave him three score, some of wood and 
some of earth, also gossampine cotton nearly four 
great bottoms of exceeding weight." It is a wonder 
the adelantado did not set up housekeeping with all 
this outfit ! 

^' The day following, when they came to the seaside," 
continues our author, " where was another village of 
the king's, the lieutenant commanded the ship-boat to 
be brought to the shore. The king also had prepared 
two canoes, painted after their manner, one for him- 
self and certain of his gentlemen, another for his 
sister Anacaona and her waiting-women ; but Anacaona 
desired to be carried in the ship-boat with the lieuten- 
ant. When they now approached near the ship, cer- 
tain great pieces of ordnance were discharged on 
piirpose ; the sea was filled with thunder and the air 
with smoke ; they trembled and quaked for fear, sup- 
posing that the frame of the world had been in danger 
of falling ; but when they saw the lieutenant laugh 
and look cheerfully on them, they recalled again their 
spirits, and when they yet drew nearer to the ship 
and heard the noise of the flutes, shawms, and drums, 
they were wonderfully astonished at the sweet harmony 
thereof. Entering into the ship and beholding the 
foreship and the stern, the top-castle, the mast, the 
hatches, the cabins, the keel and the tacklings, the 
brother fixing his eyes on the sister, and the sister on 
the brother, they were both, as it were, dumb and 
amazed, and wist not what to say for too much won- 
dering. While beholding these things and wandering 
up and down in the ship, the lieutenant commanded 
the anchors to be loosed and the sails to be hoisted up. 



366 



A WONDERMENT TO THE INDIANS. 



Then were they further astonished when they saw so 
great a mole to move as it were by itself, without oars 
and without the force of man ; for there arose from the 
earth such a wind as a man would have wished for on 
purpose. Yet furthermore, when they perceived the 
ship to move sometimes forward and sometimes back- 
ward, sometimes toward the right hand and sometimes 
toward the left, and that with one wind and in manner 
at one instant, they were at their wits' end for too much 
admiration. These things finished, and the ship laden 
wdth bread and such other rewards, they being also 
recompensed with other of our things, he dismissed 
not only the king, Behechio, and his sister, but like- 
wise all their servants and women, replenished with 
joy and wondering." 

But the great activity and good judgment of the 
adelantado were soon to be taxed to the uttermost b}^ 
the heinous conduct of one of the chief ofiicers of the 
island. Francis Roldan, a man who had once been 
especially recommended to the sovereigns by the Ad- 
miral, had been " raised by him from poverty and 
obscurity." Bmplo3^ed at first in the most ordinary 
situations, he discovered so much shrewdness, talent, 
and tact that, notwithstanding his deficiency in educa- 
tion, he was made ordinary alcalde, or justice of the 
peace. Having discharged his duties with fidelity and 
good sense, Columbus, on returning to Spain from his 
second voyage, made him chief judge of the island. 
But he soon " forgot the Admiral's bread he had eaten," 
says Herrera, " desiring to get into authority by raising 
commotions, and taking for his pretence Don James 
Columbus's having ordered the caravel which had 



JFRANCIS BOLD AN. 



367 



carried bread and wine to Isabella^ to be laid dry, to 
prevent its being stolen by some malcontents to go 
away into Spain, began to mutter among the laboring 
men where he had some reputation, because he had 
been their overseer, as also with the seamen, and other 
mean people and those that were most discontented, 
saying that the caravel would be better in the water, 
and ought to be sent into Spain with letters to their 
catholic majesties, since the Admiral was so long 
away, that their wants might be relieved and they 
not perish with hunger or be destroyed by the Indians ; 
that neither the adelantado, Don Bartholomew, nor his 
brother Don James, would send it, because they 
designed to revolt, and keep the island to themselves, 
keeping them all as slaves, employing them in build- 
ing their houses and forts, to attend them in gathering 
their tributes, and enriching themselves with gold. 
The men finding themselves encouraged by a man in 
authorit}^, such as the chief alcalde, had the impu- 
dence to say those things in public which, before, the}' 
scarce durst mutter in corners. Francis Roldan, per- 
ceiving that the men had declared their minds, required 
they should all sign a paper importing that it was 
for the public good that the caravel should be set 
afloat, thus to engage them further; and because he 
was very sensible it was not fit that their catholic 
majesties should know he had been the ringleader of 
such a mutin}', he sought after plausible pretences to 
ground his designs. He proceeded farther to per- 
suade the people that the best way to secure the 

^This was a caravel just returned from Zaragua, loaded with tribute cotton 
and cassava-bread. 



368 



HE INSTIGATES MUTINY. 



friendsliip of the Indians to the Spaniards was to quit 
them of the tribute ; and advice being brought that 
Guarionex's Indians did not pay the tribute, and that 
they gave tokens of uneasiness, Don James Columbus, 
thinking to put Roldan out of the way of advancing 
his design, sent him with a considerable part of the 
men to Conception, where he better carried on his 
mutiny, and abused and disarmed those that would 
not follow him. Returning to Isabella, having by 
force taken the key of the royal magazine, he broke 
the locks in pieces, and crying, ' Long live the King! ' 
took all the arms and provisions he thought fit for his 
followers." ^ 

This is the beginning of Roldan's rebellion accord- 
ing to a very competent writer, employed as of&cial 
historiographer of the Indies, and one who lived so 
near the time of the events themselves that he must 
have often conversed with those who had been e3^e- 
witnesses of the scenes he describes. 

In the midst of the confusion resulting from the 
scene of breaking open the royal magazine as just 
described, Diego Columbus, accompanied by some 
honest men, came forth to reason with the mutineers. 
But Roldan was so insolent that he thought it the 
better part of discretion to retire into the fort, and he 
was in such great fear of the rebels that he would not 
allow Roldan to speak to him without first furnishing 
hostages. 

The mutineers now left Isabella and visited the 
royal stock yards, where cows and mares were kept 

^ Stevens' translations of Herrera's General History of America, pp. 
175, 176. 



ROLDAN DISAFFECTS THE INDIANS. 



369 



for breeding in order to supply the colony. Here 
they took whatever they wanted of the cows and mares, 
with their colts, killing and eating on the spot as 
many of the first as their appetites craved, and, going 
through the Indian towns, reported themselves as in 
a quarrel with the Admiral's brothers on account of 
their exacting the tribute from the natives. The 
Indians should not pay tribute, they said. If they 
should refuse to do so they would defend them. That 
this mischievous advice was not dictated by humane 
feelings, but was used only as a mutinous policy, will 
hereafter appear from Roldan's own conduct towards 
the natives. But it was very conciliating, to say the 
least. 

" Many causes," says Herrera, " are said to have 
moved Francis Roldan to that insolence ; but the 
chiefest of them were ambition of command and to 
be subject to no man nor to the rules obser\^ed at 
Isabella ; and believing that the Admiral would not 
return because of the information John Aguado had 
carried against him, he had a mind to place himself in 
authority." 

About this time Don Bartholomew returned to 
Isabella from Zaragua. Roldan, sustained by so 
large a party of malcontents, demanded the launching 
of the caravel, or at least that he might launch it him- 
self. But the adelantado positively forbade it on two 
grounds — -first^ because the ship was not properly 
rigged for so long and perilous a voyage, and, secondly., 
because neither Roldan nor his men were sufficiently 
skilled mariners to conduct the voyage. It must also 
have been about this time that the foul plot occurred 



370 



A FOUL PLOT. 



referred to by Fernando Columbus, who says Roldan 
" drew so many over to his own party that one day, 
when the lieutenant was come back from Zaragua to 
Isabella, some of them resolved to stab him, looking 
upon it as so easy a matter that they had provided a 
halter to hang him up after he was dead. What at 
present the more incensed them was the imprisoning 
of one Barahona, a friend to the conspirators, concern- 
ing whom, if God had not put it into the heart of the 
lieutenant not to proceed to execution of justice at 
that time, they had then certainly murdered him." 

Taking seventy men, well armed, this arch rebel 
places himself in an Indian town about two leagues 
from Fort Conception, which he intended to capture, 
and then he would " get Don Bartholomew in his 
hands," whose valor and sagacity were especially 
formidable to him, and put him to death. As a first 
step in this direction, he approached Captain Barrantes, 
who had charge of thirty men in the town where 
lived the cacique Guarionex, whose wife Roldan is 
said to have debauched. But the captain shut him- 
self up with his thirty men, refusing to talk with the 
rebels. " Roldan might go about his business," he 
said; "he and his men were in the King's service." 
Roldan, threatening to burn him and his men, seized 
their store of provisions, and marched to Conception, 
about half a league distant. 

But, like Barrantes, Michael Ballester, an old gray- 
haired veteran, was true to his situation, and shut the 
gates against him. 

The adelantado knew not whom to trust, so, at the 
suggestion of Ballester, he got into Fort Conception 



THE ADELANTADO IN DANGER. 371 

to save his life. From here he sent a messenger to 
Roldan, bidding him to consider the mischief he was 
doing to the interests of the colony and the service of 
the sovereigns in obstructing the tribute and stirring 
up the natives. This brought Roldan to an inter- 
view with the adelantado upon the latter giving him 
security. They conversed through a window of the 
fort. 

" Why do you lead about these people in such a 
scandalous manner," said Don Bartholomew, "to the 
hindrance of their majesties' service ? " 

" I only draw them together to defend myself 
against you," said Roldan, " for it is reported that 
you intend to kill us all." 

" You have been wrongly informed," replied the 
adelantado. 

" IM}^ compau}^ and I are in the King's service," said 
the rebel ; " say where 3^ou would have us serve him." 

" In the dominions of Diego Columbus," said Don 
Bartholomew, referring to the famous Indian guide and 
interpreter, who had married into the family of Guario- 
nex, and thus become one of his subordinate chiefs. 

" There are not enough provisions in that locality," 
was the excuse. 

'' La}'- down the office of chief alcalde, and cease to act 
as such, or even bear the name, since you are against 
the service of the King," the adelantado insisted. 

Roldan now turned his back in the most haught}^ 
manner possible, and went away to Manicaotex, the 
most disloyal of the caciques. Calling him "brother," 
he got away from him the three marks of gold he was 
to have paid to the king, and in order to bind him down 



372 ^^^ INSURGENTS INCREASE. 

as tightly as possible he took away and led about with 
him the cacique's son and his nephew. 

Keeping the natives in awe of him in every way, he 
allowed those who followed him to live in the most lewd 
and arrogant libertinism. Herrera says, " Roldan had 
now got some horses, for ever since John Aguado went 
away he had provided many horseshoes, which had not 
been necessary till then, whence it was inferred that 
iVguado's indiscretion and his ill-behavior towards the 
Admiral were the occasion of this revolt, and that 
Francis Roldan had intended it ever since that time. " 

Roldan's adherents increased in number, and he was 
more intent than ever on getting Don Bartholomew into 
his hands. But the latter was warned by Collado^ 
through Rambla, " to take heed whom he trusted." 

At this critical moment news came that Coronal had 
arrived with his two ships, sent ahead with supplies by 
the Admiral, while he came on by way of an exploring 
route with six ships more. 

The news brought b}^ these ships was by no means 
reassuring to the rebels. Don Bartholomew, against 
whose authority they professed especially to rebel, had 
been confirmed by the sovereigns as Lord Lieutenant of 
the Indies, or adelantado, according to the appointment 
made him by his brother, and not only had Aguado' s 
official budget of accusations received no notice at the 
court, but all titles and privileges originally granted ta 
the Admiral had been renewed, not to speak of other 
special favors which he had received. 

All this was clearly announced by the adelantado, as 
he now set out for San Domingo with his troops to 
secure the caravels just arrived. Roldan followed in 



THE ADELANTADO IS CONFIRMED. 



373 



the distance, anxious to know as fully as possible all 
the late news and the moves now to be made. He was 
also on the alert to draw over to his party any of the 
disaffected whom he might meet. But he found the 
passes on the way strongly guarded and was obliged to 
halt five leagues away. He was also somewhat dis- 
armed when he found that Don Bartholomew had taken 
a more mild and conciliating attitude towards those 
about him, seeing more clearly now than ever before 
how greatly the colonists had suffered from sickness 
and hunger, and how much had been done to throw a 
doubt over his authority. He therefore promised full 
pardon to all the disaffected who would at once renew 
their allegiance to him. He also sent Coronal, who was 
prepared to give a clear account of the Admiral's good 
ofi&cial standing in Spain, in order that he might per- 
suade the rebels to desist from their mischievous and 
hopeless undertaking against the authority of Spain. _ 

But Roldan was not disposed to treat with this mes- 
senger, who was not only loyal, honest, and competent, 
but fresh from the scenes of the recent official trans- 
actions in Spain. At a narrow pass on the way he 
placed a body of his men with cross-bows levelled, who 
cried out, " Halt, traitor ! Had 3^ou come eight days 
later, we should all have been as one man." In vain 
did Coronal point out to Roldan the disservice and mis- 
chief he was doing to the interests of the colony, the 
imminent danger of his position, and the great advan- 
tage of improving this opportunity of peace. He " was 
sent awa}'- with haughty and scandalous answers." Rol- 
dan claimed that he was simpl}^ opposed to the tyranny 
and bad government of the adelantado, and would at 



374 INSOLENCr OF THE REBELS. 

once submit to the Admiral when he should come. This 
was the plea generally adopted by the party, some of 
whom wrote letters to that effect to their friends at San 
Domingo, entreating their good offices for them when 
Columbus should arrive from Spain. 

When Coronal reported to the adelantado the results 
of his interview, that officer proclaimed Roldan and his 
followers traitors. Hereupon the rebels left those parts 
and went to Zaragua, the most delightful and fertile 
part of the island. Roldan unfolded his scheme fully 
to his men. They would not endure the strict discipline 
of the adelantado, he said, for he " made them keep the 
three vows of religious men ; and besides that, they 
wanted not for fasts and disciplines, as also imprison- 
ments and other punishments, which they endured for 
the least fault. "^ He was able to govern them in a 
different manner, and would take them into a country 
which was like Paradise. There, supported by the most 
intelligent, polite, and agreeable of the natives, they 
would bask in a perpetual sunshine of delight — eat, 
drink, and be merry. Above all, they could there ap- 
propriate as many of the most beautiful Indian women 
as they might wish. All this was much better than 
heaven itself to these miserable libertines, so recently 
escaped from the prisons and dungeons of Spain. So 
on they went, stirring up all the mischief they could 
among the Indians on the way, and in every way possi- 
ble abusing the hospitalities of these simple and kind- 
hearted children of nature. 

The ships of Coronal had brought quite a reinforce- 

1 Life of Columbus, by his son, cap. 74. 



UPRISING OF THE NATIVES. 37^ 

ment to the industries of the colony. Over ninety- 
men came in all, fourteen of whom were to till the 
soil, and the remainder were to work the mines and 
cut Brazil-wood. 

But peace and quiet were not to be secured, not even 
by the most conciliating measures. So great had 
been the influence of the rebels and their false repre- 
sentations among the natives, that they had secretly 
planned a wide-spread rebellion, of which the peaceful 
Guarionex had consented to be the commander-in-chief. 
As they could count only on their fingers, it was 
difiicult for them to fix a day for their rendezvous. 
They agreed to rise on the night of the next full 
moon and slay all the small parties of Spaniards 
quartered here and there among the natives, Gua- 
rionex attacking Fort Conception. But one of his 
chiefs, not being a very good astronomer, moved before 
the time and advertised the whole affair, thus putting 
the Spaniards on their guard. He fled to Guarionex 
for refuge, but was indignantly put to death. 

This leader now knew full well that there was no 
hope for him in the fortunes of war, so he fled across 
the mountains to Maiobanex, chief of the Ciguayans, 
with his wife, children, and a few followers, and im- 
plored his protection. This was the tribe of hardy 
mountaineers which the Admiral and his men had 
encountered at the Gulf of Samana on the first voj-age. 
It will be remembered that they had caused the first 
bloodshed by the Spaniards among the Indians. 

Maiobanex received his brother chief with a generous 
cordiality and faithfulness which would have done 
credit to the most civilized prince, not only receiving 



376 



DEPREDA TIONS. 



him as his guest, but promisiug to stand by him even 
at the cost of life and fortune. 

From these mountain heights and aided by the 
Ciguayans, Guarionex made many predatory excur- 
sions into the valleys, killing many of the Spaniards 
who were quartered among the friendly Indians, and 
destroying the crops. Don Bartholomew could see no 
escape from the necessity of war with these combined 
natives, and so entered upon a campaign in the 
spring. This war is so graphically described by 
Peter Martj^r in his Decades of the Ocean that we can- 
not refrain from quoting him, essentially as trans- 
lated by Bden in the quaint old English rhetoric of 
the sixteenth century. He says : " The Admiral sent 
his brother, the lieutenant, with an army of four score 
and ten footmen and a few horsemen, with three 
thousand of the island men which were mortal 
enemies to the Ciguayans, to meet the people of 
Ciguana with King Guarionex, their grand captain, 
who had done much mischief to our men and such as 
favored them. Therefore, when the lieutenant had 
conducted his arm}^ to the banks of a certain great 
river running by the plain, ^ which we said before to 
lie between the corners of the mountains of Ciguana 
and the sea, he found two scouts of his enemies lurk- 
ing in certain bushes, whereof the one, casting him- 
self headlong into the sea, escaped, and by the mouth 
of the river swam over to his companions ; the other, 
being taken, declared that in the wood on the other 
side of the river there lay in camp six thousand 

iThis plain was on the north side of the island, between two mountain 
spurs. 



INDIAN WARFARE. 377 

Ciguayans, ready, unawares, to assail our men passing 
by. Wherefore, the lieutenant finding a shallow place 
where he might pass over, he with his whole army 
entered into the river, the which thing when the 
Ciguayans had espied, they came running out of the 
woods with a terrible cr}^ and most horrible aspect, 
much like unto the people called Agathyrsi, of 
whom the poet Virgil speaketh, for they were all 
painted and spotted with sundry colors, and 
especially with black and red, which they make of 
certain fruits nourished for the same purpose in their 
gardens, with the juice whereof they paint themselves 
from the forehead even to the knees, having their 
hair — which by art they make long and black, if 
nature deny it them — wreathed and rolled after a 
thousand fashions, a man would think them to be 
devils incarnate newly broke out of hell, they are so 
like unto hell-hounds. As our men waded over the 
river, they shot at them, and hurled darts so thick 
that it almost took the light of the sun from our men ; 
insomuch that if they had not borne off the force 
thereof with their targets the matter had gone wrong 
with them. Yet at the length, many being wounded, 
they passed over the river ; which thing when the 
enemies saw, the}^ fled, whom our men, pursuing, 
slew some in the chase, but not many, by reason of 
their swiftness of foot. Thus being in the woods, 
they shot at our men more safel}'-, for they being 
accustomed to the woods, and naked, without any 
hindrance passed through the bushes and shrubs, as 
it had been wild boars or harts, whereas our men were 
hindered by reason of their apparel, targets, long 
javelins, and ignorance of the place. 



378 



INDIAN WARFARE. 



" Wherefore when he had rested them all that night 
in vain and the day following he saw no stirring in 
the woods, he went, b}'- the counsel and conduct of the 
other island men which were in his army, immediately 
from thence to the mountains, in the which King 
Maiobanex had his chief mansion place, in the village 
called Capronum ; by the which name also the king's 
place was called, being in the same village. Thus 
marching forward with his army, about twelve miles 
off, he encamped in the village of another king, which 
the inhabitants had forsaken for fear of our men ; 
yet making diligent search, they found two, by whom 
they had knowledge that there were ten kings with 
Maiobanex in his palace of Capronum, with an army 
of eight thousand Ciguayans. 

" At the lieutenant's first approach he durst not give 
them battle until he had somewhat better searched the 
regions, yet did he in the meantime skirmish with 
them twice. The next night, about midnight, he sent 
forth scouts, and with them guides of the island, men 
who knew the country, whom the Ciguayans espy- 
ing from the mountains prepared themselves to the 
battle, with a terrible oxy of alarm after their manner^ 
but yet durst not come out of the woods, supposing that 
the lieutenant, with his main army, had been even at 
hand. The day following, when he brought his army 
to the place where they encamped, leaping out of the 
woods, they twice attempted the fortunes of war, fiercely 
assailing our men with a main force, and wounding 
many before they could cover them with their targets. 
Yet our men put them to flight, slew many, took many ; 
the residue fled to the woods, where they kept them still 



EXPOSTULA TIONS AND THREATS. 



379 



as in their most safe-hold. Of them which were taken 
he sent one, and with him another, of the island men 
which was of his party to Maiobanex with command- 
ments to this effect : ' The lientenant brought not hither 
his army, O Maiobanex, to keep war either against you 
or your people, for he greatly desireth your frienship; 
but his intent is that Guarionex, who hath persuaded 
you to be his aid against him, to the great destruction 
of your people and undoing of your country, may have 
due correction, as well for his disobedience toward him 
as also for raising tumults among the people. Where- 
upon he requireth you and exhorteth you to deliver 
Guarionex into their hands, the which thing if you shall 
perform the Admiral, his brother, will not only gladly 
admit you to his friendship, but also enlarge and defend 
your dominions. 

" ' And if herein you refuse to accomplish his request, 
it will follow that you shall shortly repent you thereof, 
for your kingdom shall be wasted with sword and fire 
and shall abide the fortune of war, whereof you have 
had experience with favor, as you shall further know 
hereafter to your pain, if with stubbornness you provoke 
him to show the uttermost of his power.' 

" When the messenger had thus done his errand^ 
Maiobanex answered that Guarionex was a good man, 
endued with many virtues, as all men knew, and there- 
fore he thought him worthy his aid, especially inas- 
much as he had fled to him for succor, and that he had 
made him such a promise, whom also he had proved to 
be his faithful friend. 

" Again, that they were naughty men, violent and 
cruel, desiring other men's goods, and such as spared 



3 8o ENTREA TIES AND ARG UMENTS. 

not to shed innocent blood. In fine, that he would have 
nothing to do with such mischievous men, nor 3'et enter 
into friendship with them. 

" When these things came to the lieutenant's ear he 
commanded the village to be burnt where he himself 
encamped, with many other villages thereabout; and 
when he drew near to the place where Maiobanex lay 
he sent messengers to him again, to commune the mat- 
ter with him, and to will him to send some one of his 
most faithful friends to entreat with him of peace. 
Whereupon the king sent unto him one of his chief 
gentlemen, and with him two others to wait on him. 
When he came to the lieutenant's presence he kindly 
required him to persuade his lord and master in his 
name, and earnestly to admonish him, not to suffer his 
flourishing kingdom to be spoiled or himself to abide 
the hazard of war for Guarionex' sake, and further to 
exhort him to deliver him, except he would procure the 
destruction alike of himself, his people, and his conn- 
try. 

" When the messenger was returned Maiobanex as- 
sembled the people, declaring unto them what was 
done, but they cried out on him to deliver Guarionex, 
and began to curse the day that ever they had received 
him, thus to disturb their quietness. Maiobanex 
answered them that Guarionex was a good man and 
had well deserved of him, giving him man}'- princely 
presents, and had also taught both his wife and him to 
sing and dance,i which thing he did not little esteem, 
and was therefore fully resolved in no case to forsake 

^ Herrera notices that it was the peculiar dance of the Vega which this 
chief esteemed so highly. 



RE TALI A TION. 381 

him or, against all liumanity, to betray his friend, which 
fled to him for succor, but rather to abide all extremities 
with him than to minister occasion of obloquies to slan- 
derers, to report that he had betrayed his guest, whom 
he took into his house with warranties. 

" Thus dismissing the people, sighing and with sor- 
rowful hearts, he called Guarionex before him, promis- 
ing him again that he would be partaker of his fortune 
while life lasted.'" 

Maiobanex was so resolute in his determination to 
protect his friend that he forbade any further communi- 
cation with Don Bartholomew. To this end he stationed 
guards along the various passes, with orders to kill any 
who might be sent to treat of peace. Meanwhile the 
adelantado sent two messengers, the one a prisoner from 
the Ciguayans and the other a friendly island man ; 
but they were both slain on the way. When Don Bar- 
tholomew, who followed closely with ten footmen and 
four horsemen, found his messengers tying dead in the 
path, the arrows still sticking in their bodies, his rage 
was thoroughly aroused, and he resolved to subdue this 
tribe utterly. 

As he approached the encampment of Maiobanex 
the chiefs and men about this true-hearted man all for- 
sook him and fled. They could not face the spears, 
swords, cross-bows, and war-horses of the Spaniards. 
Maiobanex, with his family and a few faithful friends, 
now took refuge in the mountains. Several of the Ci- 
guayans hunted for Guarionex, intending to deliver him 
up as the cause of their ruin, but he too had fled to the 

^ Ilerrera says the chiefs both wept, Maiobanex comforting his friend and 
promising to protect him even at the loss of his kingdom. 



382 



HARDSHIPS OF THE SOLDIERS. 



dens and caves of tlie highest rocky peaks, there 
wandering alone in his grief and peril. 

Three months of hardship and privation in the 
mountains had worn out the Spaniards. The natives 
had fled. Their villages w^ere desolate. Why should 
the white men endure their fatigue and hunger any 
longer ? Cassava-bread, roots, herbs, and the few little 
7itias caught by their hounds, with water only, " some- 
times sweet and sometimes muddy, savoring of the 
marshes " — this was poor fare for these elegant soldiers, 
accustomed to the luxuries of Spain. Sleeping in the 
open air, under trees, exposed to the damp, chilly air of 
the mountains, was not to be kept up longer than was 
necessar}^ Besides, what would become of their farms 
in the Vega ? Don Bartholomew dismissed all but 
thirty. With these he v/ould search " from town to 
town and from hill to hill " till he should find the two 
caciques. 

This was no easy task in such a vast wilderness, 
now so utterly abandoned that there was neither sight 
nor sound of the natives. If one of these occasionally 
straj^ed among the desolate habitations, he protested 
utter ignorance of the whereabouts of the chiefs. One 
day, however, several Spaniards who were hunting 
utias came across "two familiars " of Maiobanex, who 
were stealing forth to procure some cassava-bread for 
their chief. They were at once examined by the 
adelantado as to the hiding-place of the cacique, " and 
though they wonderfully kept the secret they were 
entrusted with b}^ their lord, after having been much 
racked, they confessed where he was." 

These poor men, fresh from the rack, were com- 



DOMESTIC AFFECTION. 



383 



pelled to act as guides. Twelve of the Spaniards 
stripped themselves, and having tattooed their naked 
bodies, after the manner of the natives, with a black 
and red paint made from certain fruits, and wrapped 
their swords in palm leaves, accompanied them to 
the hiding-place of the cacique and his household. 
They drew their swords and took them prisoners, the 
adelantado returning with them to Fort Conception. 

In the cacique's household was a sister of his, wife 
of another cacique, who had not yet encountered the 
Spaniards. She was a model of female beauty and 
attractiveness, having left her home to comfort her 
brother in his wanderings. At once came her husband 
begging for her release with tears and pledging his 
fidelity as an ally. The wife was given up, along with 
several other subjects who had been taken, and 
Herrera says the Indian was so thankful that he 
brought four or five thousand Indians with coas^ which 
are staves hardened in the fire, used by them instead of 
spades, for him to appoint where he should grow corn for 
him. The place was accordingly appointed, and they 
made such a plantation as would be then worth 3,000 
ducats. All the Ciguayans conceived that since Don 
Bartholomew had set that lady at liberty, she being 
very famous in the country, they might obtain the same 
for their king. Mau}^ of them went with presents of 
utias and fish, which was what their countrj^ afforded, to 
beg him, promising that he should ever after continue 
in obedience. He set the queen, the children, and the 
servants at libert}^, but would not release the king. 
Guarionex, being distressed with want in the place 
Avhere he lay hid, went out to seek something to eat, 



384 



FAITHFUL FRIENDS. 



and being seen by the Ciguayans, they going to visit 
Maiobanex, acquainted Don Bartholomew, who imme- 
diately sent some men and they conducted him to Fort 
Conception. 

Sir Arthur Helps thinks, " the two caciques probably 
shared the same prison," and adds, " thus concludes a 
story which, if it had been written by some Indian 
Plutarch and the names had been more easy to pro- 
nounce, might have taken its just place amongst the 
familiar and household stories which we tell our chil- 
dren, to make them see the beauty of great actions." 




CHAPTER XVII. 

COLUMBUS AND ROLDAN'S REBELLION. 

OLUMBUS reached Hispaniola on his third 
voj^age to find his organization of system 
among the natives nearly broken up, the plan 
of taxation demoralized, and his chief justice, Roldan, 
in rebellion. However much an overtaxation may have 
done to bring about the former result, its immediate oc- 
casion, at least, was the insinuating influence of the 
arch rebel. The natives were encouraged to throw off 
all restraint, and every industry was at a stand-still. 
The Golden Tower rose almost solitary on the banks of 
the Ozema ; the mountains of Cibao were virtually for- 
saken, the fertile Vega Real and other plains scarcely 
l^ss fruitful and inviting were almost unbroken by the 
husbandman ; the missionary work had a mere nominal 
existence among a people who had learned to despise 
the cross on account of the atrocities committed by those 
who bore it, for it had come to be the symbol of the 
most shocking cruelties and excesses rather than the 
emblem of the tender mercies of Jesus of Nazareth. 
Whereas a Christian civilization might have been an in- 
calculable means of elevation to the kind and simple- 
hearted natives, their numbers had been thinned by 
oppressions and devastating wars, and the last scintilla 
of their hopes had been darkened. Demoralized, 
terrified, scattered, and starving, they looked upon those 



386 CONDUCT OF THE REBELS. 

whom they had recently hailed as from heaven to be 
more like demons escaped from the infernal pit. 

Scarcely less deplorable was the condition of the 
white man. Idleness and vice had induced want and 
disease. The ill-usage of the natives, who had been 
serviceable in so many ways, had driven them away in 
indignation and dismay. Rebellion had embittered the 
souls of many. The remainder were sad and dis- 
heartened by the gloomy outlook. 

In the midst of all this disappointment and pressing 
poverty of the island, the first undertaking for the Ad- 
miral, weary and sick from the long and exciting voy- 
age, was the conciliation of Roldan's unreasonable re- 
bellion. In addition to the disheartening tale of their 
doings which his brothers and allies had to report, the 
three ships which he had sent in advance when at the 
Cape Verde Islands, and which reached San Domingo some 
time after his arrival, brought additional accounts which 
were of a most trying nature. These ships, guided by 
men new to the route, had been carried past their prop- 
per landing-place by the strong currents, and so came, 
unfortunately, to that part of the island infested by the 
rebels. They, taking the shrewdest possible advantage 
of this occurrence, went on board the ships in the most 
cordial manner, and gave as their reason for being in 
that part of the island the procuring of provisions 
and the preserving of good order among the natives. 
On the strength of this plea, they got possession of a 
large proportion of the supplies brought by the ships, 
and had an opportunity for disaffecting, on the sly, many 
of these miserable characters, who, if they had had their 
just deserts, would have been inside of prison walls or 



THEIR SEDUCTIVE METHODS. 387 

hanging on gibbets. Herrera says : " Roldan, inculcat- 
ing to them that they were going to lead a very painful 
life, for that they should be obliged to labor and dig, 
with much hunger and want, easily persuaded them to 
stay with hini, telling them, at the same time, how they 
should live with him, which was going about from one 
town to another, taking the gold and w4iat else they 
thought fit." Peter Martyr, speaking more plainly 
still, says Roldan " seduced " these men, " promising 
them in the stead of mattocks, wenches' paps ; for 
labor, pleasure ; for hunger, abundance ; and for weari- 
ness and watching, sleep and quietness." Satan himself 
could scarcely have made a more seductive appeal to 
these subjects of a state-prison. 

Both wind and currents were against the return of these 
ships to their port, so that it would take two or three 
months to sail to San Domingo. So the three captains 
resolved to expedite affairs by a special adjustment. As 
the laborers on board were under pay from the time 
they left Spain, John Antonio Columbus would take 
some forty of them to the Admiral by land ; Arana 
would take charge of the ships in such moves as it was 
necessary for them to make till the weather was favor- 
able to their leaving for San Domingo ; and as the 
rebellious attitude of Roldan had been discovered, Car- 
vajal would spend his time in trying to bring him to a 
reconciliation with the Admiral. But when, on the 
second day after their arrival, John Antonio Columbus 
had gotten his fort}'- men on the land, all but eight went 
immediately over to Roldan. He earnestl}' appealed to 
this rebel leader to dissuade them from such a proced- 
ure, especially as they were under pay for the royal 



388 



SAILING AGAINST THE WIND. 



service. Whatever might be his variance with the 
adelantado, he owed loyalty to the King. But Roldan 
was very soft-hearted about the matter. His was a 
religious order of the utmost freedom, he said, and he 
could not consistently use any force to keep those away 
who might wish to go with him. 

It soon became obvious that the only safe way was for 
the ships to put out for San Domingo at once, in the teeth 
of wind and storm, lest defection should spread still 
further among the crews. Carvajal, however, remained 
still longer, endeavoring to persuade the rebels to return 
to allegiance. 

Though the distance was short, the ships, contending 
with wind and current, reached San Domingo with 
delay and difficulty. That one which Carvajal had 
brought over struck on a sand-bank, lost her rudder, 
and sprang a leak. The length of time since the de- 
parture from Spain had consumed a great part of the 
provisions, and much of the rest was seriously damaged. 
Carvajal soon arrived by land to report failure in his 
efforts to bring the rebels to terms of reconciliation, but 
Roldan had promised to state his grievances to the Ad- 
miral and to be ready for some peaceful adjustment as 
soon as he might learn of his arrival. Carvajal and 
others thought that a general pardon for past offences 
would secure allegiance. 

The outlook was exceedingly perplexing. The ap- 
proach of Roldan, though ostensibly for peace, might 
seduce many of the discontented, and the persistent 
effort on the part of the rebels to make the people 
believe that Columbus and his brothers intended to de- 
tain the colonists against their wishes, in order to 



MIGUEL BALLESTER. 



389 



accomplish their own selfish purposes, would have its 
effect. Evidently it would be best for all the homesick 
and disaffected to be sent back to Spain at once. As 
there were five vessels nearly ready to sail, the Admiral 
announced free passage, provisions, and pay for all who 
might wish to return. 

He warned Ballester at Fort Conception to be on his 
guard for the attacks of Roldan, to seek an interview with 
him, offering him full pardon for the past if he would at 
once return to loyalty. This new process entirely did 
away with the act of the adelantado declaring him and 
his men rebels. Ballester was also to invite Roldan to 
come to San Domingo in order to adj ust terms of recon- 
ciliation, the Admiral offering, if it were required, a 
written assurance of a safe conduct. This message had 
barely arrived when Ballester learned that the rebels 
were assembling about ten leagues away, at Bonao, where 
Requelme, one of the leaders, had large possessions. 

Irving, following Las Casas, says : " Ballester was a 
venerable man, gray-headed, and of a soldier-like 
demeanor. Loyal, frank, and virtuous, of a serious dis- 
position and great simplicity of heart, he was well 
chosen as a mediator with rash and profligate men ; 
being calculated to calm their passions by his sobriety, 
to disarm their petulance by his age, to win their con- 
fidence by his artless probity, and to awe their licen- 
tiousness by his spotless virtue." 

This man of weighty character met the rebels in 
full force at Bonao, and they were in the most self- 
complacent and haughty mood possible. The Ad- 
miral's offer of pardon, so generous in view of their 
heinous deeds, they utterly scorned. They were not 



390 THE TAUNTS OF ROLDAN. 

coming to seek peace, but to demand tliat the Admiral 
should deliver to them those Indians recently captured 
and about to be sent to Spain ; for Roldan, as chief 
justice, had promised to protect them. Till these 
Indians were delivered there could be no peace. Rol- 
dan even claimed to control the fortunes of the Ad- 
miral, who, if he were not careful, would y^\. be obliged 
to beg pardon of him. 

How much Roldan cared for the Indians is best seen 
in his outrageous treatment of them generally ; but 
to champion the rights of the enslaved natives was a 
convenient point to make at this juncture, when the 
Queen was especially solicitous to liberate the suffer- 
ing subjects of this new country, and he was shrewd 
enough to poise the present attitude of his unwar- 
ranted rebellion thereon. Roldan having taunted Co- 
lumbus with the statement that only the gentlemen 
about him were loyal, he concluded to make a test of 
the matter, and so ordered his men to appear under 
arms. About seventy presented themselves, and 
scarcely more than half of these could be trusted. 
One was lame, another was sick, and some had rela- 
tives or friends among those in rebellion. It was 
obvious at a glance that Columbus could command no 
armed force adequate to the occasion. To attempt it 
would only betray his weakness. The situation was 
most humiliating, and compromise with this most 
unreasonable rebellion was become a necessity. The 
five ships detained in the harbor with the hope of 
sending back to Spain such of the rebels as might 
prove incorrigible, and of bearing more favorable tidings 
to the sovereigns, must be under way, for their sup- 



APPEAL TO THE SOVEREIGNS. 30 1 

plies were wasting, the suffering Indians on board 
were perishing, some of them suffocating with heat in 
the holds, and some of them plunging overboard and 
making their escape. Then, too, the discontented 
about him must be gotten away before they could com- 
municate with their friends in rebellion. 

October i8th, the ships sailed. Las Casas states 
that his father returned to Spain in one of them, and 
so must have been able to furnish him with many of 
the facts of his important history. Columbus sent to 
the sovereigns a most interesting letter, the abstract 
of which, given by Irving, is so lucid that we here 
quote it : 

" Columbus wrote to the sovereigns an account of 
the rebellion, and of his proffered pardon being refused. 
As Roldan pretended it was a mere quarrel between 
him and the adelantado, of which the Admiral was not 
an impartial judge, the latter entreated that Roldan 
might be summoned to Spain, where the sovereigns 
might be his judges ; or that an investigation might 
take place in presence of Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal, 
who was friendly to Roldan, and of Miguel Ballester, 
a witness on the part of the adelantado. He attributed, 
in a great measure, the troubles of this island to his 
own long detention in Spain, and the delays thrown 
in his way by those appointed to assist him, who had 
retarded the departure of the ships with supplies until 
the colony had been reduced to the greatest scarcity. 
Hence had arisen discontent, murmuring, and finally 
rebellion. He entreated the sovereigns, in the most 
pressing manner, that the affairs of the colony might 
not be neglected, and those at Seville who had charge 



392 PROPOSITIONS OF THE ADMIRAL. 

of its concerns might be instructed at least not to 
devise impediments instead of assistance. He alluded 
to his chastisement of the contemptible Ximeno Bre- 
viesco, the insolent minion of Fonseca, and entreated 
that neither that nor any other circumstance might 
be allowed to prejudice him in the royal favor through 
the misrepresentations of designing men. He assured 
them that the natural resources of the island required 
nothing but good management to supply all the wants 
of the colonists, but that the latter were indolent and 
profligate. He proposed to send home by every ship, 
as in the present instance, a number of the dis- 
contented and worthless, to be replaced by sober and 
industrious men. He begged also that ecclesiastics 
might be sent out for the instruction and conversion 
of the Indians and, what was equally necessary, for 
the reformation of the dissolute Spaniards. He 
required, also, a man learned in the law to officiate as 
judge over the island, together with several officers of 
the royal revenue." 

The same author continues: "Nothing could sur- 
pass the soundness and policy of these suggestions ; 
but, unfortunately, one clause marred the moral beauty 
of this excellent letter. He requested that for two 
years longer the Spaniards might be permitted to 
employ the Indians as slaves, only making use of 
such, however, as were captured in wars and insur- 
rections. Columbus had the usage of the age in 
excuse for this suggestion, but it was at variance 
with his usual benignity of feeling and his paternal 
conduct towards these unfortunate people." 

The Admiral's interesting letter detailing the facts 



CRIMINATIONS AND RECRIMINATIONS. 



393 



of his third voyage was sent separately, and is so well 
known in the English translation given in Major's 
Select Letters as to need no extended notice here. 

The rebels also wrote to Spain, giving the most 
plausible excuses for their attitude, claiming, as usual, 
that the Admiral and his brothers were selfish, 
tj^rannical, and cruel. Since Roldan and his company, 
now numbering a hundred or more, had many 
friends and relatives in the mother country, and there 
were not wanting at the court those who were jealous 
of the Admiral, they had a great and unequal influence 
against the foreign adventurer. 

The criminations and recriminations included in 
these opposing reports to the sovereigns are given as 
follows by Peter Martyr, who was a courtier at the 
time : " They accuse the Admiral and his brother," 
said he, "to be unjust men, cruel enemies, and 
shedders of Spanish blood, declaring that upon every 
light occasion they would rack them, hang them, and 
head them, and that they took pleasure therein, and 
that they departed from them as from cruel tyrants 
and wild beasts rejoicing in blood; also the King's 
enemies ; af&rming likewise that they perceived their 
intent to be none other than to usurp the empire of the 
islands, which thing, they said, they suspected by a 
thousand conjectures, and especially in that they 
would permit none to resort to the gold-mines, but 
only such as were their familiars. 

" The Admiral, on the contrary part, when he 
desired aid of the King to infringe their insolvency, 
avouched that all those his accusers which had ad- 
vised such lies against him were naughty fellows, 



394 CRUEL DIVERSIONS. 

abominable knaves and villains, thieves, bawds, 
ruffians, adulterers and ravishers of women, false 
perjured vagabonds, and such as had been either con- 
victs in prisons or fled from fear of judgment, thus 
escaping punishment but not leaving vice, wherein 
they still continued and brought the same with them 
to the island, living there in like manner as before, in 
theft, lechery, and all kinds of mischief, and so given 
to idleness and sleep that, whereas they were brought 
thither for miners and scullions, they would not now 
go one furlong from their houses except they were 
borne on men's backs. 

" To this office they put the miserable island men, 
whom they handled most cruelly. For lest their 
hands should discontinue the shedding of blood, and 
the better to try their strength and manhood, they 
used now and then, for their pastime, to strive among 
themselves and prove who could most cleverly with 
sword, at one stroke, strike off the head of an innocent, 
so that he who could with most agility make the head 
of one of these poor wretches to flee quite and clean 
from the body to the ground at one stroke, he was the 
best man and counted most honorable." 

This same horrid diversion by the Spaniards in the 
Indies is related by Las Casas. 

The three ships still in the harbor were designed 
for Don Bartholomew, in order that he might continue 
the exploration of the coast of Paria, which the Ad- 
miral had been obliged to pass by so hastily. But the 
adelantado could not be spared till the rebels had been 
brought to terms ; for at any moment, in case of their 
making an attack, his active valor might be needed. 



WAS DO A' BARTHOLOMEW TO BLAAfE? 



395 



Hence the reconciliation of this " handful of ruffians " 
was now the pressing necessity. 

Was there any truth in the charge so generally 
made — that Roldan's rebellion was brought about by 
the too severe rule of Don Bartholomew ? Las Casas, 
who witnessed a full investigation of that officer's con- 
duct in this matter, " acquits him of all charges of the 
kind, and affirms that, with respect to Roldan in par- 
ticular, he had exerted great forbearance." But Co- 
lumbus would be on the safe side. On the 20th of 
October he wrote to Roldan in the most conciliating — 
one might almost say patronizing — language. Would 
he not, in view of past kindnesses, do away with this 
quarrel between him and the adelantado ? The com- 
mon good, as well as his former good standing with 
the sovereigns, pointed alike to the desirability of such 
a step. He need not fear molestation in case he and 
his companions would come to him. They might 
have a safe conduct. 

Who should be the bearer of this important letter ? 
The rebels had refused to treat with any one but 
Carvajal, but his fidelity was seriously doubted, with- 
out just foundation, however, as we shall hereafter 
see. The reasons presented against him were ap- 
parentl}^ strong and decidedly formidable in number, 
but Columbus, who was always charitable in his 
judgments, gave him the benefit of the doubt, and so 
made him his messenger. Nor did he ever have 
occasion to regret it. 

But the messenger was scarcely out of sight when a 
letter arrived signed jointly by the leaders of the 
rebellion, and written several days before. This letter 



396 



THE REBELS ARE INCORRIGIBLE. 



put a new phase on their affairs. Not only did they 
deny the charge of being in rebellion, " but claimed 
great merit " for not having done more mischief. 
They had dissuaded their fellows from killing the 
adelantado in revenge for his cruel oppressions, pre- 
vailing on them to await the Admiral's return for 
redress. It was now a month since his return. Dur- 
ing all this time they had waited patientl}'-, expecting 
to receive some orders from him, but all in vain. He 
had shown only irritation and ill-will. In point of 
honor and safety, therefore, they now formally de- 
manded discharge from his service. 

Meanwhile, Carvajal and Ballester presented the 
Admiral's letter, and exhausted their powers of per- 
suasion with view to a reconciliation. Having right, 
truth, personal influence, and the authority of Spain 
on their side, they succeeded in winning the judgment 
of the leaders, so that they even mounted their horses 
in order to confer with the Admiral ; but the body of 
their followers were too thick-headed and corrupt to be 
amenable to reason, and they immediately set up a noisy 
clamor in opposition. The idle, roaming, licentious 
life which they were living they would on no account 
exchange for the industrial and moral discipline of the 
colony. This was a matter which concerned them all, 
they said, and no arrangement should be made, there- 
fore, without their knowledge and consent. Let all 
propositions be made in writing, and so be made clear 
to the public. This uproar continued for one or two 
days, and then Roldan wrote to the Admiral that his 
followers objected to his coming to San Domingo with- 
out a passport to protect him and his companions. 



PERILOUSNESS OF THE SITUATION. 



397 



Scarcely more assuring was the letter from Ballester, 
urging an agreement to whatever the rebels might 
demand, since their force, already so strong, was contin- 
ually increasing, the soldiers of his own garrison desert- 
ing and going over to them daily. Unless some com- 
promise were made at once and the incorrigible and 
dissatisfied sent to Spain, the government of the colony 
would be in the most imminent danger, not to speak 
of the peril which might threaten the person of the Ad- 
miral himself. Kven if the officers and gentlemen about 
him should prove faithful, he could not depend on the 
rank and file of the people. 

Columbus realized the crisis of the moment. There 
was no choice left to him. He sent the passport. But 
when Roldan arrived it was evident that he had come 
to gain adherents rather than to effect a reconciliation. 
His demands were so numerous, arrogant, and unreason- 
able that Columbus, notwithstanding the threatening 
danger and his willingness to make large concessions, 
could not admit them. Roldan left, promising to send 
in his terms in writing. " But that they might not 
have cause to complain," says Columbus's son, Fer- 
nando, " or say he was too stiff in this affair, he ordered 
a general pardon to be proclaimed, and to be thirty days 
upon the gates of the fort, the purport whereof was as 
follows : 

" That forasmuch as during his absence in Spain 
some difference had occurred between the lieutenant 
and the chief justice, Roldan, and other persons who 
had fled with him, notwithstanding anything that had 
happened, the}^ might all in general, and every one in 
particular, safely come to serve their Catholic Majesties, 



398 



PROCLAMATION OF PARDON. 



as if no difference had ever been, and that whosoever 
would go into Spain should have his passage and an 
order to receive his pay, as was usual with others, pro- 
vided they presented themselves before the Admiral 
within thirty days to receive the benefit of this pardon, 
protesting that in case they did not appear within the 
time limited they should be proceeded against accord- 
ing to the course of law." 

Surely this was opening the door wide enough for 
any reasonable person among the rebels to find his way 
back into the royal service with honor. 

Carvajal carried a cop3" of the proclamation to Fort 
Conception, where he found Roldan besieging Ballester, 
having shut off his supply in order to force him to sur- 
render. This was done, the rebels claimed, in order 
that they might arrest a man whom Roldan wished to 
execute. Carvajal delivered to Roldan the Admiral's 
letter, which stated the reason why he could not agree 
to his propositions, and saying that if he would draw up 
such articles of agreement as Carvajal, and Salamanca, 
his steward who had accompanied him, could sign, he 
would sign them also. 

The proclamation posted on the fort the rebels scoffed 
at, saying the Admiral would soon be obliged to beg 
their pardon. After the earnest expostulations of Car- 
vajal, the following articles were drawn up by Roldan 
to be submitted to the Admiral : ^ 

I. That the Lord Admiral give him two good ships, 
and in good order, according to the judgment of able sea- 
men, to be delivered to him at the port of Zaragua, 
because most of his followers were there and because 

1 Life of Columbus, by his Son. 



PROPOSITIONS FROM THE REBELS. 



399 



there is no other port more commodious to provide and 
•prepare victualling and other necessaries, where the 
said Roldau and his company shall embark and sail for 
Spain, if so God please. 

II. That his Lordship shall give an order for the 
payment of the salaries due to them all till that day, 
and letters of recommendation to their Catholic Majes- 
ties that they may cause them to be paid. 

III. That he shall give them slaves for the service 
they have done in the island, and their sufferings, and 
certif}^ the said gift; and because some of them have 
women big with child, or delivered, if they carry 
them away they shall pass instead of such slaves they 
were to have ; and the children shall be free, and they 
may take them along with them. 

IV. His Lordship shall put into the aforesaid ships 
all the provisions requisite for that voyage, as have 
been given to others before ; and because he could not 
furnish them with bread, the judge and his compau};^ 
have leave to provide in the country, and that they 
have thirty hundredweight of biscuit allowed them, 
or for want of it thirty sacks of corn, to the end that 
if the cassava or Indian bread should spoil, as might 
easily happen, they may subsist upon the aforesaid 
biscuit or corn. 

V. That his Lordship shall give a safe conduct for 
such persons as shall come to receive the orders for 
their pay. 

VI. Forasmuch as some goods belonging to several 
persons who are with Roldan have been seized, his 
Lordship shall order restitution to be made. 

VII. That his Lordship shall write a letter to their 



400 PROPOSITIONS PROM THE REBELS. 

Catholic Majesties acquainting them that the said 
Roldan's swine remain in the island for the inhabi- 
tants' provision, being one hundred and twenty great 
ones and two hundred and thirty small, praying 
their Highnesses to allow him the price for them they 
would have bore in the island ; the which swine were 
taken from him in February, 1498. 

VIII. That his Lordship shall give the said Roldan 
full authority to sell some goods he has, which he 
must part with to go away, or to do with them as he 
pleases, or to leave them for his own use with whom 
he thinks fit, to make the best of them. 

IX. That his Lordship will order the judges to give 
speedy judgment concerning the horse. 

X. That if his Lordship shall find the demands of 
Salamanca to be just, he shall write to the said judge 
to cause him to be paid. 

XI. That his Lordship shall be discoursed concern- 
ing the captain's slaves. 

XII. That forasmuch as the said Roldan and his 
company mistrust that his Lordship, or some other 
person by his order, may offer them some violence 
with the other ships that are in the island, he shall 
therefore grant them a pass or safe conduct, promising, 
in their Majesties' name and upon his own faith and 
the word of a gentleman, as is used in Spain, that 
neither his Lordship nor any other person shall offend 
them or obstruct their voyage. 

Having examined this agreement made by Aloni'.o 
Sanchez de Carvajal and James de Salamanca with 
Francis Roldan and his company, this day, being 
Wednesday, the 21st of November, 1498, I am content 



PROPOSITIONS FROM THE REBELS. 401 

it be fully observed, upon condition that the said 
Francis Roldan, nor an}^ of his followers, in whose 
name he subscribed and ratified the articles by him 
delivered to the aforesaid Alon2;o Sanchez de Carvajal 
and James de Salamanca, shall not receive into their 
company any other Christian of the island, of any 
state or condition whatsoever. 

I, Francis Roldan, judge, do promise and engage 
my faith and word, for myself and all those with me, 
that the articles above mentioned shall be observed 
and fulfilled, without any fraud, but faithfully as is 
here set down, his Lordship performing all that has 
been agreed on between Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal 
and James de Salamanca and myself, as is in the 
written articles. 

I. That from the day of the date hereof till the 
answer be brought, for which ten days shall be allowed, 
I will admit no person whatsoever of those that are 
with the Lord Admiral. 

II. That within fifty da3^s after the said answer shall 
be delivered to me here in Fort Conception, signed and 
sealed by his Lordship, which shall be within the ten 
days before mentioned, we will embark and set sail 
for Spain. 

III. That none of the slaves freely granted us shall 
be carried away by force. 

IV. That whereas the Admiral will not be at the port 
where we are to embark, the person or persons his 
Lordship shall send thither be honored and respected 
as their Majesties' and his Lordship's officers, to whom 
shall be given an account of all we put aboard the ships, 
that they may enter it and do as his Lordship shall 



402 HUMILIATING TERMS. 

think fit, as also to deliver to them such things as we 
have in our hands belonging to their Majesties. All 
the aforesaid articles are to be subscribed and performed 
by his Lordship, as Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal and 
James de Salamanca have them in writing, the answer 
whereof I expect to have at Fort Conception in eight 
days to come, and if it be not then brought I shall not 
be obliged to do anything herein mentioned. 

In testimony whereof, and that I and my company 
may observe and perform what I have said, I have sub- 
scribed this waiting. Given at Fort Conception on the 
1 6th of November, 1498. 

These were hard and humiliating terms, based on 
falsehood and injustice ; but so completely hemmed in 
and embarrassed by the worst possible combination of 
circumstances was Columbus that he had no choice, 
except the lesser of two evils, for defection was be- 
coming more rife every day. Many of those who were 
still with him talked of going away to Ciguaya, after 
some such manner as Roldan and his men had gone 
into Zaragua.. Therefore, on the 21st of November, he 
ratified the agreement between Roldan on the part of 
the rebels and Carvajal and Salamanca on his part. 

The rebels then went away into Zaragua to prepare 
for their departure, and the Admiral at once set about 
getting the two ships ready for Spain, as agreed. To 
part thus with the ships in which he had planned to 
send his brother Bartholomew away for further dis- 
coveries in the regions of Paria and the pearl fisheries 
was a grievous disappointment ; but to get the trouble 
of this rebellion out of the laud was the pressing 
necessity of the hour. How much more rapidly every 



RECOURSE OF THE ADMIRAL. 403 

department of this great enterprise might then pro- 
gress. 

But he felt it his duty to advise the sovereigns of the 
fearful combination of things which made it necessary 
for him to sign an agreement so false and so unjust as 
that by which the rebellion had been compromised. A 
detailed account, therefore, of the whole matter was for- 
warded to Spain. He recommended that these parties 
be arrested, and when their outrageous conduct, which 
had paralyzed every industry in the island, broken 
up the system of tribute, and brought on war with 
the natives, whom they had robbed and whose women 
they had debauched, could be investigated, the sov- 
ereigns would know something of the terrible necessity 
under which he had been compelled to act in order to 
save the colony from utter ruin. 

The trouble with the rebels being thus adjusted, and 
San Domingo and vicinity once more restored to tran- 
quillity, the Admiral, accompanied by Don Bartholomew, 
went to Isabella to repair such mischief as had occurred 
in consequence of the revolt, the interests at San Do- 
mingo being left with Don Diego. 

But such was the lack of the necessary resources and 
such the disorder in the colony that the ships agreed 
upon for Roldan could not be gotten ready till late in 
February. Then a severe storm overtook them on their 
way and compelled them to lie at anchor in a harbor on 
the coast till the end of March. Indeed, one was so 
disabled as to be obliged to return to San Domingo, 
another being dispatched under Carvajal to take its 
place. 

This failure of the ships in respect to time the 



404 CAR VAJArS PR O TES T. * 

rebels seized upon, glad for any excuse to escape sucli 
accountabilities to justice as they were liable to meet in 
Spain. Of course they laid all the blame on Colum- 
bus. He had intentionally delayed the ships, and 
then sent them in an unseaworthy condition, and 
short of provisions, in order that they might perish on 
the long voyage. Meanwhile the provisions which 
they had made for the voyage had been consumed by 
waiting, and could not readily be replaced. They 
therefore resolved not to go. 

Carvajal then gave formal protest, in the presence 
of a notary, of their refusing to embark according to 
the spirit of their agreement. The ships, already 
badly eaten by the teredo worm, and with provisions 
wasted by unavoidable detention, were sent back to 
San Domingo, while Carvajal returned by land. Rol- 
dan went with him some distance on horseback, 
appearing much disturbed in mind. He dared not 
return to Spain, and to persist in defiance of authority 
with such a band of ruffians at his heels could not 
afford any very bright prospect. He wished to talk 
with Carvajal privately, so they two alighted and 
withdrew under a tree. Again he declared that he 
was loyal at heart, and if the Admiral would send a 
safe-conduct to him and his principal companions he 
would meet him, and thought that all might be 
arranged with satisfaction to both parties ; but for the 
present the matter must be a secret as far as his men 
were concerned. 

Carvajal was only too glad to report this to the 
Admiral, who at once forwarded the safe- conduct under 
the royal seal. He also sent a letter to Roldan, 



C OL LMB US A PPEA L S JN J A IN. 405 

" short " but " very pithy, persuading him to peace, 
submission, and their Majesties' service." This letter 
was written May 21st. ''' He afterwards repeated it at 
San Domingo more at large, on the 29th of June, and 
on the 3d of August six or seven of the chief men 
about the Admiral sent Roldan another safe-conduct, 
that he might come to treat with his lordship."^ He 
and his followers were pledged security, provided they 
did nothing hostile to the representatives of the royal 
authority. 

But it is time for Columbus to get intelligence from 
Spain. Since he is struggling so faithfully, so loyally 
amidst the toils of a rebellion almost universal, and 
the most unreasonable and wicked, surely the sover- 
eigns will stand by him promptly, positively. The 
letter he receives is from Bishop Fonseca. He ac- 
knowledges the appeal made by the Admiral, but in a 
few words, as freezingly cold as the icebergs of the 
north, he simply says the matter for the present must 
remain in suspense until the sovereigns may have 
time to investigate and devise some remed}^ — as if 
rebellion and disorder in a young colony were a thing 
to be winked at, and allowed plenty of time to grow 
and become strong. 

This cruel answer almost took the heart out of 
Columbus. Must he, then, stand alone in this terrible 
crisis ? How incorrigible would the rebels become 
when they discovered how little influence he had with 
the royal authority ! Still, he would do and suflfer 
everything in order to bring about a speedy recon- 
ciliation. In the latter part of August he and several 

^ Fernando Columbus, cap. 83. 



4o6 EFFRONTERY OF 1 HE REBELS. 

of His most important men sailed in the two caravels 
to Azua, between San Domingo and Zaragua, in order 
to meet Roldan and his men as much to their con- 
venience as possible. 

Roldan, accompanied by Moxica and several others, 
came on board the ship with a boldness and effrontery 
which would have ill-become a conqueror even in dic- 
tating terms to the vanquished, not to speak of a cul- 
prit who should be humbling himself for pardon. 
Surely he must have heard how coolly the Admiral's 
appeal had been received in Spain. Except as circum- 
stances had changed the propriety of certain clauses, 
he demanded the same terms as before, adding the 
following : 

I. That the Admiral should send fifteen of his men 
to Spain in the first ships which might go, 

II. That to those remaining he should give land gind 
horses for their pay. 

III. That proclamation should be made that all which 
had happened had been caused by false suggestions 
and through the fault of bad men. 

IV. That the Admiral should newly appoint Roldan 
perpetual judge. '^ 

What terms could have been more humiliating or 
unjust than these? But to the unhappy Admiral 
there was left no choice between this miserable com- 
promise or the ruin of the colony. Roldan went on 
shore to confer with the main body of his men. After 
some two days the capitulations of the rebels were 
forwarded in language the most arrogrant and insult- 
ing. To all their former articles of concession from 

^ See Fernando Columbus. 



HUMIL I A TING C ONDITIONS. 



407 



Columbus they added that if he should fail iu the ful- 
filment of any point, they might, by force or by any 
other means they saw fit, compel him. 

Before signing these humiliating conditions he 
added that the commands of the sovereigns, himself, 
and the justices should be promptly obeyed b}^ them. 
Whatever the injustice and the personal humiliation 
he might suffer in this transaction, there might come a 
time when he could explain to the royal ear how little 
personal freedom there had been left to him. 

We have been somewhat full and explicit in giving 
the details of this shameful rebellion, that the reader 
may judge for himself as to the wretched material out 
of which Columbus was obliged to construct his col- 
ony. Let those who are disposed to judge him severely 
as a ruler contemplate what they could have done 
under like circumstances. Surely Don Bartholomew 
must have been a patient man to have allowed so much 
blame to be falsely imputed to him ; for his manage- 
ment, during the absence of the Admiral, had been 
made the chief point of censufe by the rebels. 

Herrera represents Roldan as resuming his office of 
chief judge with a noticeable arrogance. Surrounded 
by his former accomplices, and holding intercourse 
only with the disaffected, he was disposed to frown upon 
those who had been orderly and loyal, even discharg- 
ing Rodrigo Perez, the Admiral's lieutenant, and say- 
ing that only those whom he should appoint could 
hold office in the island. But Columbus was patient, 
and endured many indignities that quiet and order 
might be restored. When Roldan presented a paper, 
signed by over one hundred of his late followers, 



4o8 REPARTIMIENTOS. 

asking for lands in ZsiTagua. upon which they might 
settle, he feared the result of locating so many rebels 
at one point, and that so remote. He thought it better 
to distribute them, some at Bonao, some on the banks 
of the Rio Verde, and others at St. Jago, The tracts 
of land he gave were large, and he also apportioned them 
as slaves many who had been taken in the wars. 
Caciques near by might also furnish labor by means of 
their subjects instead of paying tribute. This sort of 
quasi serfdom was the beginning of that distribution 
of free Indians for labor called repartimientos^ and 
which was afterwards so greatly abused by the Span- 
iards in the New World. If, as Muiioz thinks, Colum- 
bus now concluded that, as a conqueror of this part of 
the world, he might dispose of the natives as vassals to 
his feudal lords, it was certainly very dijBferent to the 
kindly policy he had in mind on his first discovery. 
Stern necessity had changed his plans. 

About this time he organized a sort of police to 
range the provinces, collect tribute, and keep an eye 
on the conduct of the colonists. 

Roldan now presented his own claims, which in- 
cluded certain lands at Isabella, a royal poultry farm 
in the Vega, known as La Bsperanza, certain grants 
in Zaragua, with cattle and animals in general. The 
cacique whose ears Ojeda had cut off when he first 
went into the Vega was to furnish his subjects as 
laborers on these lands. All these grants, however, 
were subject to the royal pleasure, for Columbus an- 
ticipated retribution for the leaders of the late rebellion 
when the sovereigns should come to know the facts. 

Roldan gained permission to visit his possessions in 



RE^ UEL ME' S BARN. 409 

the Vega. At Bonao, his late headquarters, he made 
Requelme, one of his old colleagues, a judge in that 
place. At this appointment Columbus was aggrieved, 
for it transcended the powers of Roldan's office. Then 
that strong edifice which Requelme was erecting on 
a hill, ostensibly a barn for cattle, looked exceedingly 
like a fortress, and might be used by the late rebels as 
a stronghold. Arana, in his firm loyalty, entered a 
protest against the building. Both parties appealed 
to the Admiral, and he forbade the enterprise. 

Columbus had intended to go into Spain, taking 
Don Bartholomew with him, in order that they in 
person might accomplish that which his letters had 
failed to do. But the outlook was still forbidding. 
Could he be certain that the late rebellion was wholly 
subdued ? What if the Cigua3^ans should swoop down 
from the mountains, as they seemed inclined, and try 
to carry off their imprisoned cacique, Maiobanex, now 
in Fort Conception ? What could be the import of those 
four ships said to have recently arrived at the west 
end of the island ? The Admiral was obliged to con- 
tent himself with sending two caravels to Spain early 
in October. In these returned such of the colonists 
as did not wish to stay, including some of the late 
rebels. They took slaves with them and such 
daughters of the caciques as they could induce to go 
with them, which wrongs the Admiral, in the weak- 
ness of his authority, was obliged to wink at. He 
also knew but too well how these enemies would lose 
no opportunity to misrepresent and ruin him at the 
court. As an ofiFset he sent the noble Ballester and 
Garcia Barrantes to represent him before the sover- 



4IO 



COLUMBUS'S APPEAL. 



eigns and to present the depositions concerning tHe 
conduct of the late rebels, into the trnth of which 
affair he urged them to make close inquiry, since he 
looked upon his capitulations with them as null and 
void, because they had been wrung from him in 
violence, and at sea, where he had no jurisdiction as 
viceroy ; because the insurgents had been condemned 
as traitors, and it was not in his power to absolve 
them ; because the capitulations included matters of 
the royal revenue, over which he had no control in the 
absence of the of&cers pertaining to it ; and, more 
especially, because these insurgents had violated the 
solemn oath they had taken when leaving Spain, that 
they would be loyal to him as the viceroy of the 
sovereigns. Again he asked for a judge competent to 
administer the laws, and a council of discreet persons, 
in order that he might not stand alone in the severe 
exigencies of justice. But their functions must be 
so limited as not to infringe on his rights and dig- 
nities. What could governors do if their princes did 
not sustain them ? And, since his health was failing 
and he was becoming conscious of the infirmities of 
age, might not his son Diego, now a page, but des- 
tined to be his successor and having arrived at mature 
years, be sent to assist him ? 




CHAPTER XVIII. 

OJEDA'S mischief at /JARAGUA. 

IT seems as if there were no limits to the evil 
in the hearts of those with whom Columbus 
was associated. Even the brave, dashing 
Ojeda is now in mischief. His four ships, already 
hinted at, were anchored at the west end of the island. 
As Roldan had now faced about and seemed anxious 
to reinstate himself, Columbus sent him, on the 29th 
of September, with two caravels, to inquire into the 
reason for their appearance. He anchored within two 
leagues of Ojeda's squadron, and landed with twenty- 
five men accustomed to find trails in the forest. Five 
were sent as scouts, who reported Ojeda away from 
his ships, and accompanied by only fifteen men. They 
were making cassava-bread. Roldan placed himself 
so as to intercept their return, or possibly take them 
by surprise. The Indians, who dreaded his very 
name on account of his former excesses among them, 
reported him. Ojeda saw his peril, and, as he could 
not return to his ships, faced Roldan with only a half- 
dozen men. The latter wished to know why the 
former had come to that lonely part of the island. 
Ojeda said he had been on a voyage of discovery, 
and had sought a harbor there because he was dis- 
tressed for food and needed to repair his ships. In 
the name of the government, Roldan demanded a 
sight of the credentials under which he prosecuted 



412 OJEDAS INTRUSIOA. 

his discoveries. Knowing that Roldan was not to be 
trifled with, Ojeda said that his license was on board 
his^ship, and that he would pay his respects to the 
Admiral at San Domingo, when he would impart to 
him intelligence which no one else might hear. 
Meanwhile he might say, in a whisper, that the Ad- 
miral was in complete disgrace at court, that there 
was even talk of taking away his command, and that 
the Queen, about his only remaining friend, was so ill 
that she was in nowise likely to recover. 

When Roldan went on board Ojeda's ships he 
found persons of his former acquaintance, some of 
whom had before been in the island. They repeated 
the substance of Ojeda's statements, and there was 
indeed a license, signed by Bishop Fonseca, authorizing 
Ojeda's voyage of discovery. The whole scheme of 
the enterprise was soon revealed. The glowing report 
which Columbus had sent to Spain of the Paria region 
which he had just explored, the pearl fisheries, etc., 
had been made common property among a certain 
group of adventurers, thus giving them the advantage 
of the hard-earned discoveries of the Admiral. Their 
inordinate thirst for gain being aroused, Ojeda was 
put at the head of an exploring expedition, the 
worthy Bishop Fonseca giving him full access to all 
the charts, records, etc., which Columbus had sent 
home. Occasion was thus taken to intercept the great 
explorer in the harvest which he might have enjoyed 
but for the evil deeds of Roldan and his rufiians in 
Hispaniola. The papers which Fonseca had furnished 
Ojeda, and which were not signed by the sovereigns, 
forbade him going to any of the Portuguese regions. 



AMERICUS VESPUCCIUS. 413 

or any part discovered by Columbus previous to 1495 ; 
but as the Paria coast and the Pearl Islands had been 
discovered after the above date, that great and wealthy 
region was purposely left open to this company of 
adventurers, who fitted out their own ships and con- 
trolled their fortunes, giving ov\y a certain proportion 
to the crown. 

The fleet had been fitted out at Seville, where many 
wealthy speculators assisted. Among those who 
sailed was the notable Americus Vespuccius, then a 
Florentine merchant in that city. In geography, 
navigation, and a ready use of the pen he was highly 
accomplished. Indeed, it was the happy use he made 
of his pen in describing his several voyages along the 
coast of South iVmerica, and his work as chief pilot of 
Spain and cartographer of the Ncm'- World, which, all 
unwittingly on his own part, fastened his name^ for- 
ever to one-half the globe. Here, too, was Juan 
de la Cosa, a mariner of rare skill, who had sailed 
wdth Columbus on his first voyage and in his trying 
explorations along the south side of Cuba. He was 
first pilot of Ojeda's fleet, and has made himself 
famous by means of his map of the New World, which 
he drew on a large ox-hide, and which, beautifully 
colored and illuminated, still adorns the walls of the 
Royal Museum in Madrid. 

Having sailed in May, 1499, the adventurers had 
coasted the southern continent from two hundred 
leagues east of the Orinoco, and, following in the 
track of Columbus's third voyage by means of his 
charts, they had passed through the Serpent's Mouth 

^See Humboldt's Examen Critique. 



414 OJEDAS PROMISE. 

and out at the Mouth of the Dragon, visited the pearl 
regions, and discovered the Gulf of Venezuela/ Touch- 
ing at the Caribbee Islands, they had encountered the 
natives in one of their fierce attacks, and had captured 
many slaves for the markets of Spain. Their supplies 
running low, Ojeda^ had sailed for Hispaniola, having 
made the most extensive voyage up to that time 
on the shores of the New World. 

Roldan had gathered what information he could 
from Ojeda, and believing him sincere in his promise 
to sail to San Domingo and do homage to the Ad- 
miral, he returned to that place to make report. 
Columbus was deeply aggrieved to learn of so serious 
an infringement of his rights as the license forOjeda's 
voyage implied, but he would wait patiently for the 
promised visit of that daring adventurer, and learn 
more fully what had been done. But Ojeda's promise 
had been made only as a means of escape from Roldan, 
and not with the least intention of fulfilment. Hav- 
ing repaired his squadron and gathered supplies, he 
sailed farther along the coast of Zaragua, where the 
Spaniards who resided in those parts, and who were 
not specially friendly to Columbus, received him most 
cordially and gave him whatever he needed. These 
sore-headed rebels, learning Ojeda's jealous feelings 
towards the Admiral, looked upon him as a new 
leader, who might take the place of Roldan. They 

^ It seems that Vespuccius was not with Ojeda in his questionable ma- 
noeuvres at Hispaniola, but was still sailing westward along the coast of 
South America. 

^Vespuccius does not seem to have accompanied Ojeda to Hayti, but 
returned home by another route. 



OJEDA TURNS HERO. ^jr 

were loud in their clamors against the government, 
especially on account of the back pay which they 
claimed. All this gave a vantage-ground to the hot- 
blooded Ojeda. He would now pla}^ the hero, and be 
the redresser of the grievances of these men, who had 
been driven to desperation by the cruelty of the Co- 
lumbus brothers. He would march at their head and 
demand a redress of their wrongs, and the Admiral 
would have to pay them on the spot or leave the 
island. 

These heroic propositions by Ojeda were received 
with the most enthusiastic cheers by some of the late 
rebels, but others were not disposed to fall in with his 
plans. Hence arose a violent quarrel, in which several 
were killed and others wounded on both sides. But 
those in favor of Ojeda's scheme prevailed. About 
this time Roldan arrived with a small company of 
resolute men. Intelligence of the proceedings of 
Ojeda in Zaragua had reached San Domingo, and he had 
been sent by the Admiral to keep a close watch of 
affairs. On the way he had enlisted his old accom- 
plice, Escobar, who was to aid him with all the force 
he could collect. The late rebels in Zaragua, finding 
that Roldan had been hopelessly converted to the 
service of the government, undertook to wayla}^ and 
kill him while on his march ; but he was too wide- 
awake and quick to be thus entrapped. 

Ojeda knew better than to encounter Roldan and 
his force in a desperate fight, and thus oppose himself 
to the ro3'-al authority with no adequate end in view, 
and therefore found his way back to his ships. Rol- 
dan now besought him to cease his irregularities, 



4i6 



SHARP MANCEUVRING. 



which were creating so much disturbance, and come 
ashore to make peace. Ojeda would not venture 
within the reach of one so crafty and vehement as he 
knew Roldan to be. On the other hand, he seized 
several of his men and confined them in irons on 
board his vessel, threatening to hang them if Roldan 
did not hand over a certain one-armed sailor who had 
deserted. 

After a good deal of close watching and sharp 
manceuvring on the part of both these shrewd oppo- 
nents, Ojeda's ships moved awa}- to the province of 
Cahay, and landing with forty men he took whatever 
he wanted by force from the kind-hearted natives. He 
was soon overtaken by Roldan and Escobar, who fol- 
lowed along the shore. In a canoe, which was made 
almost to skip over the water by the deft Indian pad- 
dles, the two latter approached the ships of Ojeda and 
asked of him that, since he himself dared not come 
ashore, he would send a boat and bring them on board 
one of his ships for a conference. Ojeda at once sent 
the boat, thinking to thus get Roldan in his power. 
The boat came near to the shore and asked Roldan to 
come to them. 

" How many may come with me?" asked the latter. 

" Not more than five or six," was the reply. 

Escobar and four others waded to the boat, which 
refused to take any more ; but Roldan, getting upon 
the back of one man and ordering another to walk 
alongside and assist him, eight in all got in. At 
once Roldan ordered the boat to row to shore. When 
the men refused, his men attacked them with the 
sword, and wounding some, made the rest prisoners. 



FINAL AGREEMENT, 417 

One Indian, however, plunged under water and swam 
away. 

Roldan had gained his point, for Ojeda must have 
his long-boat. Bntering his small boat, which remained 
with his chief pilot and four oarsmen, the latter came 
near the shore. Roldan entered the long-boat just 
captured, with some twenty-two men, twenty more 
awaiting his orders on the land, and made ready to 
meet him. Keeping at a safe distance from each other, 
they exchanged some sharp words. Ojeda said that 
Roldan had come with men under arms in order to 
seize him, and therefore he had a right to defend him- 
self. This the latter denied, and promised that all 
should be well if the former would present himself 
before the Admiral at San Domingo. 

Finally there was an agreement. The boat was to 
be restored and the prisoners exchanged — all but the 
one-armed deserter, who had made his escape — if Ojeda 
would immediately leave. But when he sailed he 
threatened to come again with more men and more 
ships. For some time Roldan kept watch, lest Ojeda 
should not depart after all. Very soon he heard that 
he had landed farther along the coast and he imme- 
diately followed with eighty men in canoes, others 
acting as scouts along the land. But before he could 
overtake him, Ojeda had sailed again; only after he 
had made up a drove of slaves, however, to be sold on 
his arrival at Cadiz. 

This visit of Ojeda at Hispaniola is a very naughty, 
ugly incident in the life of one who, though unfortu- 
nate in the end, might otherwise have passed into 
history as a brave and interesting character, who ren- 



4i8 REBELLION A GAIN. 

dered mucli good service in an important age of the 
world's history. 

This successful attack on Ojeda by the late rebels 
was a grand first step toward their reinstatement in the 
public confidence. Being so unaccustomed to good 
deeds, they took great credit to themselves, made a 
loud noise over their loyalty and great services, and 
asked Roldan to give them land that they might make 
them estates in the delightful province of Cahay. 
But the late rebel leader wished to make good his 
professions of reform, and win a good name for obedi- 
ence to authority, so he gave them some of his ow^n 
lands in Zaragua to quiet them till he could confer 
with the Admiral as to their request. In answer to 
Roldan's letter, asking permission to come to San 
Domingo, Columbus expressed his most sincere thanks 
for that leader's faithfulness and success in driving 
away the enemy, but asked him to remain yet longer 
in Zaragua, lest Ojeda should still be lingering about 
the coast with view to further mischief. 

As bad blood is sure to breed a sore somewhere, so 
the evil nature of some of the late rebels soon found 
occasion for another insurrection. This time they 
found their centre of interest in the romance of a love 
affair. There had recently come to the island a young 
cavalier of a distinguished family, named Don Her- 
nando de Guevara. A cousin to Adrian de Moxica, he 
was as dissolute in habits as he was elegant and fasci- 
nating in manners, and had been so licentious at 
San Domingo that the Admiral ordered him to leave 
the island. Having reached Zaragua too late to take 
passage in Ojeda's ships, he found refuge with Roldan, 



THE INDIAN BE A UTT. 41^ 

who was disposed to show him favor on account of his 
relationship to his old friend De Moxica, and so per- 
mitted the young cavalier to choose his place of resi- 
dence until the Admiral should give further orders 
concerning him. That point in Cahay where Roldan 
had captured Ojeda's boat was chosen, as it was near 
to Zaragua, the home of those of his acquaintance and 
relationship. This was also a sort of sporting point, 
where de Moxica kept his hawks and hounds. 

Through Roldan he was introduced to the famous 
Anacaona, with whose beautiful daughter, just passing 
into womanhood, he became desperately in love. 
Hence when the occasion for his departure arrived he 
was not inclined to go. Roldan, who Las Casas thinks 
was himself in love with the Indian beauty, became 
peremptory, and demanded that Guevara should leave. 
Anacaona, to whom the Spaniards were always objects 
of the strongest fascination, was pleased with the antici- 
pated match, and encouraged the young cavalier to 
linger at her house. He, meanwhile, sent for a priest 
to baptize his intended bride. Roldan now sent for 
Guevara and rebuked him severely for taking advan- 
tage of the friendship and affection of this distin- 
guished native family, and again he ordered him to 
depart. Guevara pleaded good intentions and begged 
leave to remain, but Roldan could not be persuaded, 
saying the Admiral might misunderstand the matter, 
and gTeat evil come of it. 

The young cavalier left, but three days was the 
longest separation from the Indian beauty which he 
could endure. Then he returned with five friends, and 
managed to be hid away in Anacaona's house, A 



420 GUE VA RA S RE VENGE. 

severe attack of inflamed eyes confining Roldan at the 
time, he sent word at once, on hearing of his young 
friend's return, ordering him to leave mstanter. This 
time the young cavalier put on an air of defiance, and 
warned Roldan not to make foes in this critical hour, 
when he might need the aid of his friends, for the 
Admiral was certainly about to take off his head. 
Roldan now ordered him to appear at once before 
the Admiral at San Domingo. At this stern order 
the young lover wilted, and begged for permission to 
remain a little longer. Roldan granted the request. 

But Guevara resolved to take revenge on the man 
who had dared to thwart his passion, and so began at 
once to make a party among the more incorrigible of 
Roldan's former accomplices, who, as Irving sa3^s, 
" detested as a magistrate the man they had idolized 
as a leader." By a sudden rise they would either put 
Roldan to death or put out his eyes. But he, dis- 
covering the plot, arrested Guevara and seven of his 
friends in Anacaona's house, and reported them to 
the Admiral, saying that he was not able to judge the 
case impartially. Columbus ordered the young 
cavalier to be confined in the fortress at San Domingo. 
Now the smouldering embers of the old rebellion were 
fanned into a flame. Adrian de Moxica, resolving to 
rescue his cousin, called on Requelme at Bonao, and 
they together soon rallied their old comrades, settled in 
the neighborhood, in defence of their young favorite 
and his pretty bride in prospectu. Why should Rol- 
dan, now become tyrant, prevent such a happy mar- 
riage — one which might be a benefit to the colony ? 
Down came the old weapons of rebellion from the walls. 



MOX/CA /S HUNG. 421 

and a body of reckless men on horseback were ready 
for any deeds of violence whicli might rescue their 
favorite, and secure the death of Roldan and the Ad- 
miral. The latter, now at Fort Conception and thus 
in the immediate vicinity of the plot, set out at night, 
with six servants and three esquires, for the quarters 
of the ringleaders, who, encouraged no doubt by the 
leniency shown to them in the recent insurrection, 
were completel}^ off their guard. Moxica and several 
of his chief confederates v/ere taken and lodged in 
Fort Conception. After all the outrages which Co- 
lumbus had suffered from these turbulent men, and 
the utter inappreciation they had shown for his recent 
toleration, it is not at all surprising that he now 
determined upon heroic treatment. Moxica was to be 
hanged from the top of the fortress. As he wished 
to confess before dying, a priest was sent for ; but 
though he had been so vaunting and arrogant as a 
rebel, he had no courage in the face of death. He 
would begin his confession and then hesitate, and 
then begin again, as if to gain time for some possible 
chance of rescue. Finally he began to accuse of 
criminality others who were above suspicion. Co- 
lumbus, out of patience with such cowardly treachery, 
ordered the miserable wretch to be swung off. 

This new departure was vigorously kept up. In 
prison irons several of Moxica's associates awaited 
the execution of their death sentence. Requelme 
and those quartered with him at Bonao were taken 
to San Domingo, where they made company for 
Guevara, the cause of the rebellion. The rest of the 
rebels fled to Zaragua. Don Bartholomew, aided by 



422 ORDER IS RESTORED. 

Roldan, pursued them witli his usual swiftness and 
energy. Very soon seventeen of these rebellious 
spirits awaited their trial in one dungeon, and still 
the chase continued. If these measures seem severe, 
let it be remembered how every enterprise of this 
great work of colonizing and developing the New 
World had been utterly paralyzed by the despicable 
conduct of these miserable, seditious spirits, and that 
the kindest and most patient and forbearing measures 
on the part of Columbus were of no avail. 

Good order was once more restored. Even the 
irritated Indians took warning, and submitted to 
authority. Some of them became sufficiently civilized 
to put on clothes and to adopt Christianit3^ The}^ 
assisted the indolent Spaniards in cultivating the 
lands, and a settled prosperity began to appear. Had 
the Admiral and Viceroy now been allowed to pursue 
his plans without interruption, no doubt a new era of 
good government and general improvement might 
have ensued. But there was to be no opportunity for 
this scientific discoverer to reap the harvest v/hich he 
had so truly earned. Those plans which were to 
eventuate in his utter disgrace and overthrow as a 
ruler were already maturing. 




CHAPTER XIX. 

BOBADILLA SENDS COLUMBUS HOME IN CHAINS. 

OW bitterly cruel that, while Columbus was 
patiently contending with such idleness, 
licentiousness, cruelty, and sedition as broke 
up every line of his operations in the New World, this 
wicked element should have had its correlated forces 
working with most fatal effect in the court of Spain, 
thus completely demoralizing the confidence he had 
inspired and subverting his entire system of coloniza- 
tion. Very reluctantly, indeed, especially in the case of 
Isabella, did the royal confidence give way. But the 
continual dropping of water even will finally wear away 
the rock. 

And still the cry against the Admiral and his brothers 
continued. All the ship-news from the Indies — and it 
was important in those days — reiterated the same thing. 
The disappointed speculator, the humiliated hidalgo, 
the expelled criminal — all told the oft-repeated items. 
Letters from those who could not return confirmed them. 
The points of accusation are clearly expressed by the 
Admiral's son, who was then a page in the royal house- 
hold, and whose wounded feelings would but too clearly 
receive the indelible impressions of the hour, which he 
so candidly related in after years. He says, " Many of 
the rebels by letters from Hispaniola, and others that 
were returned into Spain, did not cease to give in false 
information to the King and his council against the Ad- 



424 MANY-SIDED A CCUSA TIONS. 

miral and his brothers, saying they were cruel and unfit 
for that government, not only because they were 
strangers and aliens, but because they had not formerly 
been in a situation to learn by experience how to govern 
people of quality, af&rming that if their highnesses 
did not apply some remedy those countries would be 
utterly destroyed, and if they were not quite ruined by 
their ill-government the Admiral would revolt and join 
in league with some prince to support him, since he 
pretended that all was his own, for it had been discovered 
by his industry and labor, and that the better to compass 
his design he concealed the wealth of the country and 
would not have the Indians serve the Christians, nor be 
converted to the faith, because by making much of them 
he hoped they would be on his side and do what he 
might wish against their highnesses/' 

Here we may see how many-sided and dishonest was 
this bitter attack upon Columbus. A little while before 
his enemies were making a special point on what they 
regarded as his cruelty to the natives. Now they make 
an equally sharp and much more dangerous point, by 
claiming that by indulgence and caressing of this 
simple-hearted people he is courting their alliance in an 
anticipated revolt against the sovereigns of Spain. 

And the grave charge of a design on the part of Co- 
lumbus to alienate the Indies from the authority of 
Spain, however preposterous, must have been made very 
protninent^ for in his letter to the nurse of Prince Juan 
he refers to it in the most affecting and pathetic lan- 
guage. " Although I am an ignorant man," said he, " I 
do not imagine that any one supposed me so stupid as 
not to be aware that even if the Indies had belonged to 



COL UMB US'S RE PL T. 



425 



me I could not support myself without the assistance 
of some prince. Since it is thus, where should I find 
better support or more security against expulsion than in 
the King and Queen, our sovereigns, who from nothing 
have raised me to so great an elevation, and who are 
the greatest princes of the world, on the land and on 
the sea ? " Then referring to the fact that his son was in the 
household of the sovereigns, thus binding his own heart 
in loyalty to them, which loyalty they had appreciated, 
as shown in the honors they had bestowed upon him, 
he continues : " If I have now spoken severely of a 
malicious slander, it is against mj^ will, for it is a sub- 
ject I could not willingy rlecall even in my dreams." 

The cry of the Admiral's enemies had all along 
been that there was no gold in this pretended Ophir 
of Solomon. Noblemen, mariners, gentlemen, and 
common people made a jest of his great expectations. 
Now, since gold was unquestionably being found in 
abundance, they began to turn the tide of scandal in 
another direction. Not only did laborers complain, 
because they must work for wages instead of the more 
profitable arrangement of shares, but " there were 
those," says Bernaldez, "who wrote, and who came 
home and told the King and Queen, that he was 
embezzling the gold, and that he wished to give it to 
the Genoese, and many other stories, charging him 
with crimes, the least of which it ought not to have 
been believed that he would commit." Gold had but 
recently been found in considerable quantities ; and 
the Admiral had been accumulating it both in amount 
and in masses, with feelings of gratification and even 
vanity. If, as Bernaldez says, " he delayed sending 



426 



EXCITEMENT IN SPAIN 



the gold to the King somewhat longer than he should 
have done," it was only that he might himself bring 
to the sovereigns his specimens, " as large as the eggs 
of a goose or fowl, and many other sizes, which had 
been collected in a short space of time, in order to 
please their Highnesses, and that they might be 
impressed with the importance of the affair when 
they saw a great number of large stones loaded with 
gold."^ Then he would report to them " a revenue for 
tiventy years, which is, according to man's calculation, 
an age," and show them how in the Indies "they 
gather gold in such abundance that there are people 
who, in four hours, have found the equivalent of five 
marks." 

The charge of arrears on the part of Columbus 
toward those serving the sovereigns under him was 
pressed even to a most disgraceful issue. Says Fernando 
Columbus, "When I was at Granada, at the time the 
most serene Prince Michael happened to die, above 
iift}^ of them, like shameless wretches, brought a load 
of grapes, and sat down in the court of the Alhambra 
(a castle and palace) , crying out that their Highnesses 
and the Admiral made them live so miserably by not 
paying them, with many other scandalous expressions. 
And their impudence was so great that if the Catholic 
King went abroad they all got about him," crying, ' Pay^ 
pay.'' And if it happened that my brother or I, who 
were pages to her Majesty, passed by where they 
were, they cried out in a hideous manner, making the 
sign of the cross, and saying, ' There are the Admiral 

^ Letter of Columbus to the nurse of Prince Juan. 
* Caught hold of his robe, some say. 



FONSE CA ' S INFL UENCE. 



427 



of the mosquito's sons, he that has found out false and 
deceitful countries to be the ruin and burial-place of 
the Spanish gentry,' adding many more such insolencies, 
which made us cautious of appearing before them."^ 

It is true, that against all this tide of slander there 
was an occasional letter from Columbus stating the 
facts of his trying situation, and showing that the 
troubles of the island did not arise from errors on his 
part, but out of the nature of the undertaking and the 
great depravity of the men about him. But the wily 
and bitter-spirited Fonseca controlled all communica- 
tions, and could put them into such relations before 
the court as suited his enmity towards the Admiral. 
Then there remained the stubborn and unfortunate 
fact^ that, while the draught upon the royal treasury 
to support the enterprise in the Indies was immense, 
the fleets had returned almost empty, bringing only 
slaves and golden promises. 

It is easy to see how the jealous mind of Ferdinand, 
always open to suspicion in respect to this enterprise, 
begun, as it were, under his protest, and constantly 
caviled at by the courtiers, who felt themselves out- 
shone by this sudden glory of a foreigner, should now 
give way to the general sentiment of contempt for the 
Admiral. Even Isabella, so ardent in her admiration 
of the noble achievements of her hero of the ocean seas, 
must needs yield to some extent to the incessant 
clamor of all parties. If the knocking down and 
kicking of Breviesca at Cadiz had shaken her faith in 
his humane spirit as a ruler, she was still more 
deeply wounded by the ship-loads of enslaved Indians 

^ Life of Colon by his son, cap. 85. 



428 



FRANCISCO BOBADILLA. 



he continued to send to Spain, notwithstanding her 
protestation in favor of these innocent, kind-hearted 
people, whom she believed to be providentially under 
her special protection, and for whom she felt a par- 
ticular responsibility. 

Thus even Isabella began to conclude, along with 
the King and the court, that the time was come when 
some competent person should be sent to the Indies to 
make thorough investigation of affairs — Roldan's 
rebellion, the condition and treatment of the natives, 
the management of the mines, and particularly the 
spirit and methods of government by Columbus and 
his brothers. Who might be the person to under- 
take a commission so difficult, so delicate, so im- 
portant ? Who but Don Francisco Bobadilla, of# the 
King's household, and commander of the knights — 
military and religious — of Calatrava ? His first letter 
of authority, dated March 21st, 1499, after referring 
at length to the difficulties in Hispaniola, reads : 
" We command you to inform yourself of what has 
been done, to ascertain who they were that revolted 
against the Admiral, and for what cause they did so, 
what robberies and other crimes they have committed, 
and furthermore you will extend' your inquiries to 
everything relating to these matters ; when the in- 
vestigation is finished and the truth known, you will 
arrest those who were guilty, whoever they may be, 
and sequestrate their property ; you will proceed 
against them, whether present or absent, both civilly 
and criminally, and impose on them such fines and 
punishments as you may judge suitable." 

All this seems proper enough, and if Bobadilla 



BLIND PROCEEDINGS. 439 

needed help in his difficult work it was but reasonable, 
as the sovereigns further demanded, that he should 
be able to call the Admiral and all other persons in 
authority to his assistance.^ 

If the sovereigns could have known precisely how 
matters in Hispaniola at that very time were coming 
into a state of submission to the Admiral — the natives 
overawed and the rebels subdued — why would it not 
have been well if they had come to his aid and sus- 
tained him through the crisis ? In view of his great 
services, good motives, and peculiarly bitter trials, it 
would seem that such a course would merely have 
been the part of justice as Avell as discretion. We 
cannot but feel the force of Columbus's words in his 
letter to Prince Juan's nurse : " If their Hiehnesses 
would condescend to silence the popular rumors, which 
have gained credence among those who know what 
fatigues I have sustained, it would be a real charity ; ^ 
for calumny has done me more injury than the services 
which I have rendered to their Highnesses and the 
care with which I have preserved their property and 
their government have done me good ; and by their 
doing so I should be established in reputation and 
spoken of throughout the universe, for the things which 
I have accomplished are such that they 7ntcst gaifi^ day by 
day^ in the estimation of mankind.'''' 

Without doubt, the best way of sustaining Columbus 
would have been to appoint a competent commission 
of inquir3^ Thus far the sovereigns had taken a step 
in the right direction ; but unfortunatel}", as they 

^ See Navarrete, Col. Doc. Dipl., cxxvii. 

* Instead of " charity.^'' we would say ^^ justice." 



430 COL UMB US AS A R ULER. 

afterward discovered, the man chosen for the great 
mission to which the whole world would ever aftervvards 
look with the utmost interest proved himself, alike in 
heart and in judgment, wholly inadequate to the 
undertaking. 

As to the status of Columbus as a man and a ruler, 
seen in the midst of this fearful turmoil and commo- 
tion, tJie luriters zuko knew him, whether the}^ were, 
like Peter Martyr, at the court, or, like Las Casas, in 
the Indies, with one voice, sustain him not only as a 
man of sound policy and Christian motives according 
to the co7iceptio7is of the time, but as intensel}?- loyal at 
heart and ef&cient in his methods. The generations 
which followed fell into line with their views. Even 
Navarrete, in his exhaustive collection of documents 
and profoundly critical spirit, did not influence Irving, 
who may be called his disciple in matters of the 
Columbian age, to be anything less than " an amiable 
hero- worshipper." The critical skill and fine impartial 
judgment of Humboldt placed him in the same cate- 
gor3\ But in our time not a few American writers, 
in the newspaper, the magazine, and the most critical 
bibliograph}', have arrogated to themselves the dis- 
covery that the sad fate of Hispaniola and the natives 
of the West India Islands generally was simply the 
consequence of the bad government of the Admiral 
and Vicero}^ By this simple cutting of the Gordian 
knot they attempt to reverse the judgment of four 
centuries. 

But a careful examination of the ways and means of 
Columbus, at this distance, at least, fails to find the 
items of bad rulership. His plans and counsels for La 



COL UMB US A S A R ULER. 431 

Navidad would all have been the very best assurance of 
success if they had not been subverted by the heinous 
conduct of the garrison. His plans and methods of 
colonization were sound and practicable as far as can 
now be learned ; and if lie came into disfavor with the 
hidalgos, ecclesiastics, speculators, and laborers of his 
time, it would seem to have been because his conceptions 
of industry, frugality, and self-denial were too far in 
advance of the idleness, pride, and profligacy of those about 
him. The Spaniards hated him for very much the same 
reason that the Jamestown colony detested John Smith. 
They would rather beg corn of Powhatan than blister 
their hands in growing it. Surely the government of 
Columbus does not suffer when compared with that of 
Bobadilla and Ovando. 

It will probably be some time before the world will 
withhold its sympathy and admiration from one having 
rendered the service of Columbus to the present age, as 
well as for the strictly scientific method, not to speak of 
the courage and energy, in which and by v»^hich the 
grand result was achieved. 

As we have seen, the commission given by the sov- 
ereigns to Bobadilla in March was fair enough. Indeed, 
it was not only necessary, but every way in accordance 
with Columbus's own request ; for he always courted 
investigation of the troubles in the Indies by some proper 
royal representative, and now he was emphasizing the 
request in respect to the conduct of Roldan and his con- 
federates. He wished the sovereigns to send out some 
thoroughly learned and competent justice, who might 
judge these and all other cases impartially. 

But on May 21st, scarcely two months later, other 



432 FUNCTIONS OF BOBADILLA. 

letters were added to the commission, giving wliolly a 
new scope to the functions of Bobadilla, and placing 
Columbus entirely at his mercy. Nothing new had 
occurred. No new intelligence had arrived. What, 
then, is the explanation of this change in the powers of 
the commissioner ? Evidently the cabal of the Admi- 
ral's deadly enemies at court had been bus3^ To 
merely investigate was not enough in a case so desperate 
and so far away. There was no time to lose. If Boba- 
dilla should find it necessary, after full investigation, to 
suspend the rule of the Admiral and his brothers, it 
would be perilous to put off that act until another com- 
mission could be sent out only after this one had re- 
turned. Why not give the present commissioner a dis- 
cretionary power, to be used in case of necessity ? To 
bring the generous and confiding heart of the Queen 
to this extreme measure probably required time. She 
appreciated the services of Columbus, which, if gold 
and costly gems, pearls and silken fabrics were not 
forthcoming as might have been expected from India, 
had at least added unprecedented lustre to the 
Spanish crown. If he had erred in some things, per- 
chance for want of experience or because he did like 
others, as in the case of enslaving the natives, he was 
evidently loyal and conscientious. Would any one 
else do better under such trying circumstances ? But 
even Isabella was won over after a time, and con- 
sented to the enlarged powers of the commission. 

"To the counsellors, judges, magistrates, cavaliers, 
gentlemen, officers, and inhabitants of the colony," — 
so ran the address of one of the royal letters of May 
2ist which announced Bobadilla as governor-general 



BOBADILLA'S FUNCTIONS. 433 

of the Indies, with civil and criminal jurisdiction, and 
then continued — '^' We order and command all cavaliers 
and other persons now on these islands or arriving 
hereafter to quit them if the said commander, Fran- 
cisco Bobadilla, judge it necessary for our service, 
and not to return thither, but to repair immediately 
to us. For this purpose, by our present letters, we 
confer on him all necessary powers, and order every 
one to obey his orders at once without waiting to con- 
sult us or to get further instructions, and without ap- 
peal, under such penalties as he may impose in our 
name,"^ etc., etc. 

The other letter, designating Columbus simply as 
the Admiral of the ocean, orders him and his brothers 
to surrender every royal possession and appurtenance of 
the island to the new governor, under the penalties ap- 
pointed for those refusing to obey such orders given by 
the King. Five days later the sovereigns addressed a 
letter directly to the Admiral, ordering him to believe 
and obey whatever Bobadilla might demand, and to 
make his power as unlimited as possible the monarchs 
signed blanks which he might fill out and use at his 
discretion. We shall hereafter see that he used them 
in the most unwarrantable manner. 

These letters conceded everything for the ruin of Co- 
lumbus which his bitterest enemies might demand. 
Now it simply remained to so instruct and influence 
Bobadilla — himself, perhaps, a member of the vindictive 
cabal at court — to precipitate matters without due inves- 
tigation ; in other words, to prejudge the case; then 
the guilty culprits, wdio might well dread the results of 

^ Navarrete Col. Doc. Dipl., cxxviii. 



434 INDIAN SLA VES RETURNED. 

a thorough and impartial inquiry, would at once escape 
justice and secure their victim. 

Still the commission was delayed. But in the follow- 
ing autumn the ships arrived with the returned rebels, 
bringing the slaves which the straitened circumstances 
had compelled Columbus to allow the haughty insur- 
gents, as well as those they had carried away by force 
after they left him. Among these were decoyed 
daughters of the caciques, some of whom were about 
to become mothers, and others had infants in their arms. 
The motherly heart of the Queen rose in indignation, 
for was not every one of these unhappy slaves handed 
over by the Admiral ? So it was falsely claimed, and 
so she no doubt believed. This, then, was the drop 
which caused the cup to overflow. Las Casas says that 
the Queen was so incensed at the sight of these slaves 
that had it not been for her high sense of the eminent 
service of Columbus she would at once have brought 
him into disgrace. " What right has the Admiral to 
give away my subjects ? " she exclaimed, and at once 
ordered them sent back, allowing those of the former 
shipments to remain only because they had been taken 
as lawful captives in war. Then had not the Admiral 
just asked to have the lease for enslaving the Indians 
continued a while longer ? And all this after her 
repeated protestations ! 

Near the middle of July, 1500, Bobadilla left Spain 
for San Domingo. His two caravels bore twenty-five 
soldiers enlisted for a year, and six friars to take charge 
of the returning slaves and to evangelize the natives. 
At daybreak of August 23rd these caravels appeared 
just outside San Domingo, tacking as they awaited the 



BOBADILLA ARRIVES. 



435 



breeze from off tlie sea to bring tliem into the harbor. 
The Admiral, that he might restore peace and order as 
completely as possible, was at Fort Conception in the 
midst of the thickest population and near the place 
where the last move of the rebels had been made. The 
adelantado and Roldan were in Zaragua for the same 
purpose. Don Diego was therefore in command at San 
Domingo. He supposed these white sails, seen in the 
horizon from the fortress, were bringing victuals and 
ammunition from Spain, and as the Admiral had 
asked the sovereigns to send out his son Diego, might 
he not also be on board ? At once a boat was sent out 
to make inquiries. Bobadilla appeared in person on his 
ship to announce himself a commissioner sent out by 
the King to investigate the affairs of the late revolt, 
and to say that Diego w^as not on board. He then 
asked the news and learned of Moxico's sequel to the 
rebellion of Roldan — his punishment, and that of his 
accomplices — seven rebels hanged in one week. He 
also ascertained how Requelme and Guevara, now in 
prison, awaited their execution. In short, he got an 
epitome of the news in general. At no time in the 
history of the rule of Columbus could one have found 
in the Indies a state of things more calculated to con- 
firm prejudice as to the cruelty so long alleged against 
him. Behold those Spaniards dangling on gibbets, one 
on either side of the habor — the ghastly faces familiar, 
possibly, to him or to some of his men ! Was not all 
this quite enough to move the blood of a man capable 
of seeing but one side of a case, and that side already 
pretty clear to him before he left Spain ? 

The little town of San Domingo was all alive to the 



436 BOBADILLA IN THE HARBOR. 

new-comers. A commissioner to investigate tTie afifairs 
of the island ! Knots gathered here and there to dis- 
cuss the matter. The guilty were in fear and trem- 
bling. Those who had suffered wrong, those who 
thought the}^ had suffered wrong — especially those 
suffering from lack of pay — all were in high glee, for 
was not here " a Daniel come to judgment " ? A whole 
fleet of boats hurried out to meet the caravel bearing 
this important personage, to whom every one wished to 
do homage. Throughout the day Bobadilla remained 
on board his ship, listening to the reports and the 
gossip of those who gathered about him. Of course, 
those whose guilt was the greatest, and who were there- 
fore the most anxious for the ruin of the Admiral, had 
most to say, and by the time he was ready to go ashore 
he was also about ready to conclude the case. 

That all things might be done decently and in order, 
he went straight to church with his followers on land- 
ing the next morning and heard mass. The Admiral's 
brother, Don Diego, and many prominent persons in the 
colony were present. When they went out of the 
church door after mass a great crowd had gathered in 
front. A crier read Bobadilla's letter of March 21st in 
a loud voice. This was the letter which requested him 
to make strict inquiry into the late rebellion, and to 
arrest and punish the guilty according to the full rigor 
of the law. The letter being read, he ordered Don 
Diego and the justices to deliver over to him Requelme, 
Guevara, and all the other prisoners, with the evidences 
against them. Their accusers, and those who had 
arrested them, must also appear. Don Diego replied 
that he was acting under the Admiral, whose powers 



BOBADILLA ASSERTS HIMSELF. 437 

were greater than those of Bobadilla. If the latter 
would give him a copy of the royal letter, he would for- 
ward it to his brother, who alone could answer to this 
demand. He had no discretionary power in the matter. 
Bobadilla, with great disdain, refused to give a copy of 
the letter to one ivho could do nothing., and closed with a 
violent threat. If he had no authority as a commis- 
sioner, he might have as governor. They should soon 
learn that he had a right to command them all, the 
Admiral not excepted. 

Appearing at the church again the next morning, he 
had concluded to assume at a bound that high authority 
which had been implied in his commission onl}^ as a 
last resort — in case of the Admiral's extreme culpa- 
bility, as established after the fullest and most careful 
investigation. The crowd at the door was larger than 
on the day before, and they were all a-tiptoe to catcli 
the final word from the new magistrate. On coming 
out from mass, in the presence of Don Diego and the 
notables of the town, the notar}^ read Bobadilla's letters 
of the advanced commission, given May 21st, which 
appointed him governor-general of the Indies. He 
then took the accustomed oath of office, and, thus 
invested with the highest authority, again demanded 
the prisoners in the fort. The answer given was the 
same as before. 

This aroused Bobadilla's wrath, especially since he 
saw that Don Diego's firmness had its effect on the 
people. He then produced the royal order command- 
ing the Admiral and those under him to surrender the 
forts, vessels, and all else pertaining to their Majesties' 
service ; and that there might be nothing lacking to in- 



438 



OPPOSITION B r MIG UEL DIAZ. 



fluence the people he also read the order of May 30th, 
charging him to pay all arrears to those iu the royal 
service, and to compel the Admiral to square his own 
personal accounts. 

This last point carried the day, for in consequence of 
the low estate of the treasury there was a long column 
of arrears due many of those present. There were 
loud shouts of applause. With this demonstration of 
the popular favor, Bobadilla again demanded the sur- 
render of the prisoners, and again was refused as before. 
Appealing to the loyalty of the crowd for old Castile 
and their sympathy for the suffering prisoners, he made 
his way to the fort to take it by force ; and, either from 
curiosity or a disposition to aid, he was followed by all. 
The fort was in the command of Miguel Diaz, the same 
notable person who, having fled from the adelantado in 
danger and disgrace, had won the heart of the female 
cacique and reported the gold-mines of Hayna. He 
stood on the top of the wall of the closed and empty 
fort, with but a single companion at his side ; and when 
the call came for him to surrender he took the same 
ground of refusal as Don Diego had done. The parley 
was of some length, Diaz protesting that he held the 
fort under the high authority of the Admiral, who had 
gained that country at the cost of sweat, toil, and danger ; 
while Bobadilla reiterated his authority and showed 
the royal seals. Now the scene is enough to make one 
laugh, for Bobadilla and his crowd, with every kind of 
a weapon, even to picks and spades, storm and shiver 
the frail doors, designed onl}^ to keep out naked savages, 
with as fearful an energy as if they had been attacking 
huge gates of brass enclosing a garrison of thousands. 



BOBADILLA IN COLUMBUS'S HOUSE. 439 

For might not these prisoners, condemned to die, be ex- 
ecuted any moment ? They were brought out in their 
chains and, having been asked a few questions, were 
turned over to an officer named Espinosa. 

Bobadilla now took possession of the Admiral's 
house, appropriating his wares, furniture, plate, gold — in 
fact, ever3^thing, even to his most secret papers. Those 
who crowded around him, claiming arrears, he paid out 
of the money he found ; for it is easy to pa}^ debts with 
other people's money, especially when we can thereby 
gain an immense popularity. The next great step to 
the popular favor was a proclamation of liberty for 
every one to gather what gold he could for the next 
twenty years, pa3dng onl}^ a7i eleventh part to the 
crown instead of a third. Now there would be a 
stampede to the mines, and it would not be long before 
every one would be rich ! 

Rumor of what was going on soon reached Colum- 
bus at Conception. He could not believe that any 
such transactions were authorized by the crown. 
Surely these were the acts of some private adventurer 
like Ojeda. But for a stranger to proclaim himself 
governor of the island, to take forcible possession of 
the forts, the prisoners, and his own house, and threaten 
to send him to Spain in irons — all this was too astound- 
ing to take place as a mere private adventure. He 
would at least go to Bonao and so be a little nearer to 
this confusion. Here an officer brought him a copy of 
Bobadilla's letters of authority. The last letter, how- 
ever, commanding the acquiescence of Columbus, was 
kept back. Was the new official beginning to discover 
the rashness of his procedure ? 



440 COLUMBUS IN CHAINS. 

To prevent this sudden overthow of things, and 
secure a chance for reflection, Columbus sought to 
gain time by writing a sort of temporizing letter to 
Bobadilla, saying he would soon leave for Spain, and 
he would then pass everything over into his hands. 
He wrote also in some similar way to the Franciscans 
who had just come over, and with whom he regarded 
himself as more or less affiliated. But neither party 
made any reply. 

Bobadilla, instead of putting the late rebels on trial 
as the first duty implied in his commission, was using 
the blanks over the royal seal in gathering their testi- 
mony against Columbus. The latter was about to 
announce his perpetual prerogatives, as those which 
could not be revoked, when he received the final letter 
from the sovereigns, commanding his submission, along 
with Bobadilla's orders to appear before him at once. 
Now his duty was plain. He at once set out, almost 
unattended, for San Domingo. 

He found his brother Diego already in chains on 
one of the caravels, and Bobadilla was bustling about, 
beating up an armed force, which he supposed would 
be necessary in order to compel the Admiral to come 
to terms. But the latter came as quietly " as a lamb 
to the slaughter ;" whereupon Bobadilla, without a 
word of explanation, put him in irons and thrust him 
as a prisoner into the grim old fort, which still frowns 
out upon the river, and from which men still watch 
the approaching ships as Don Diego did the sails of 
Bobadilla. Las Casas says, "He was an impudent 
and shameless cook that riveted the irons on his mas- 
ter's feet with the same alacrity and readiness as 



THE THREE BROTHERS IN PRISON. 441 

though he were serving him some savor3^ dish. I 
knew the wretch, and think his name was Espinoza." 

But Bobadilla was ill at ease so long as the brave 
adelantado was abroad with an armed force, so he 
demanded the Admiral to advise him by letter to come 
in and surrender. In compliance with this request, 
Don Bartholomew was urged to submit quietly to the 
authority of the sovereigns, assuring him that their 
best hope of a just hearing would be in Spain. The 
advice was taken, and the brave adelantado, who had 
so often risked his life in the interests of the colony, 
was at once loaded with irons, and confined in a cara- 
vel apart by himself. Thus the three brothers were 
kept entirel}- separate, and not only would Bobadilla 
not so much as see them or in any way communicate 
with them, but all others were forbidden to do so under 
the severest penalties. 

Having thus placed the three outraged brothers 
beyond the possibilitj' of making any self-defence, he 
set himself to work to accumulate evidences against 
them. Instead of investigating the late rebellions and 
the heinous conduct of the many who had necessitated 
severe punishments, he evidently had no sense of 
duty, except to convict and displace the vicero3\ To 
this end he called in as witnesses the late rebels — in 
fact, all malcontents and mutineers, even to the lowest 
rabble of the island. Instead of these wicked men 
being made to feel the sting of their own guilt, which 
had caused the disorders and miseries of the com- 
munity, the way was made as eas};' and as inviting as 
possible for them to be the accusers and defamers of 
the man they had so shamefully injured. The conse- 



442 FALSE CHARGES. 

quences of their own covetous rapines, their horrid 
licentiousness, and their cruel oppressions of the help- 
less natives were all laid to the charge of the Admiral 
and his brothers. From the old primal complaint — 
how this upstart foreigner had compelled the hidalgos 
of Spain to soil and blister their hands in menial toil — 
to the latest slander — how he was trying to incite the 
natives to aid him in revolting against the authority 
of Spain — at which, last charge Mr. Fiske aptl}^ says, 
" Satan from the depths of his bottomless pit must 
have grimly smiled " — all was rehashed and served up 
anew, without a dissenting voice to oppose their 
exaggerations and falsehoods. " But calumny," says 
Tarducci, " reached the extreme of impudence when 
he was charged with hindering the natives' conver- 
sion. This accusation enables us to measure the 
audacity and baseness with which not onl}-^ the acts 
but even the motives of Columbus were shamelessly 
distorted, falsified, and presented in the most odious 
and guilty aspect. The truth w^as that some savages 
of mature age had shown a wish to become Christians, 
and the missionaries, with ill-advised zeal, were dis- 
posed to satisfy their wishes at once ; but the Admiral, 
wisely judging that it was an abuse of the sacrament 
to bestow it blindl}^ on the first-comer, had ordered 
their baptism deferred until they were instructed at 
least in the fundamental truths of Christianit3^ For 
the rest, in order to judge of the value of all that mass 
of calumnies and accusations, it is enough to consider 
what was imputed to him in regard to the Indians. 
Some said he favored and caressed them in order to 
use them at the proper time against the government ; 



THE REBELS AS WITNESSES. 443 

others that he intentionally persecuted them by 
tj^ranny and bloody wars, in order to have a pretext for 
stripping them of everything the}^ owned and selling 
them as slaves to get mone3\" 

Bobadilla admitted " the rebels, his enemies, as wit- 
nesses," sa3'S Fernando Columbus, " and publicly 
favored all that came to speak ill of them (the Admiral 
and his brothers), who in their depositions gave in such 
villainies and incoherences that he must have been 
blind who did not plainly perceive that they were 
false and malicious."^ "In short," adds Mr. Fiske, 
" from the da}^ of his landing Bobadilla made common 
cause with the insurgent rabble, and when the}'- had 
furnished him with a ream or so of charges against 
the Admiral and his brothers it seemed safe to send 
these gentlemen to Spain." 

Columbus, in his close confinement, was left to con- 
jecture the causes of his]arrest. No charges had been 
preferred, no explanations given. He was spared the 
humiliation of seeing the "many scandalous libels set 
up at corners of streets against " him, but he could 
hear the hoots and jeers of the rabble outside and the 
" blowing of horns about the port." But, in the midst 
of all this shameless persecution, where is the governor, 
sent out to put down insurrection and rebellion ? Does 
he notice James Ortez, governor of the hospital, as he 
reads his^horrid libel publicly in the market-place ? 
Certainly ; but instead of the word of rebuke, he has a 
look of complacency. A3^e, here in the cheerless prison 
sits the indefatigable discoverer of the New World, 
loaded with iron, stripped even of his necessary cloth- 

^ Fernando Columbus, cap. 86. 



444 ALONZO DE VILLEGO. 

iug, without indictment or trial, while the most lusty 
rebels and the vilest criminals are not only acquitted 
without the semblance of a trial, but are exalted in the 
public favor as those who dared to resist tyranny and 
misrule. 

No doubt Bobadilla designed to be ver3^ discreet in 
his choice of the man who was to take the noted pris- 
oners to Spain. Here was Alonzo de Villego, who had 
just come out with him. This noble youth was a 
nephew of Cervantes, Fonseca's friend, and a protege of 
the bishop's own household. He would safely deliver 
the Genoese tyrants in chains, either to Fonseca or to 
his uncle. But Villego was too jiist and magnanimous 
to be measured by the ugly narrowness and cruelty of 
Bobadilla, or to be influenced by the bitter enmity of 
Fonseca. " Alonzo de Villego was an hidalgo of noble 
character, and my particular friend,'" says Las Casas. 

" Villego, whither are you taking me ? " inquired 
Columbus, startled from his sad prison reverie. 

" To the ship, my lord, on which we are to embark," 
was the reply, in tones of respect and cordiality. 

" To embark, Villego ? Is what you tell me the real 
truth ? " cried the Admiral, in a tone of surprise ; for 
he was expecting to be led to the scaffold. 

" On my honor, my lord, it is the truth." 

The Admiral's deep, expressive eye kindled with joy, 
for he seemed to be stepping out of an ignominious 
grave into the free light of life. The good Las Casas 
gives us this affecting bit of colloquy, which he, no 
doubt, received from the lips of Villego. 

Early in October the caravels left the harbor, bearing, 
along with the criminals, an immense bundle of accu- 



THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE. 445 

sations in the form of legal documents and private 
letters, the latter being sent by many of the colonists 
in approving attestation of the proceedings of Bobadilla. 
They were barely out at sea, however, when Villego, 
and Andrez Martin, the master of tlie ship, approaching 
the Admiral with profound respect, offered to remove his 
chains. "No," was his reply; "I appreciate your 
good-will, but cannot accede to your proposal. Their 
Majesties wrote to me to submit to everything Bobadilla 
might command in their name. It was in their name 
he loaded me with these chains, and I will carry them 
till the King and Queen order them taken off. In the 
future I will keep them as a token of the recompense 
bestowed on my services,"^ 

" Ever afterw'ards I used to see them in his chamber,"^ 
says Fernando, " and when he was about to die he 
wished them to be buried with him." 

The weather was fair and the wind favorable, and in 
a little more than a month the prisoners were in Spain, 
having received the most kindly attention from 'the 
gentlemen in charge. When the tall, stately figure of 
the gray-haired man, reminding one of the descriptions 
of the senators of ancient Rome, appeared in Spain, 
loaded down with the prison chains of the vilest crimi- 
nal, the reaction of public sentiment was immense, and 
the outburst of indignation was so great that the sov- 
ereigns soon found it necessary to disclaim all responsi- 
bility in so palpable an outrage. Whatever the mis- 
takes of Columbus might have been, to send him home 
from the New World he had discovered through so 

^ Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i, cap. clxxx. 
^ Fernando Colombus, cap. Ixxxvi. 



446 



COLUMBUS'S LETTER. 



much risk, hardship, and peril, loaded down in irons, was 
infinitely too much for common sense and common 
sympathy. Bobadilla, representing Fonseca and the 
rest of the Admiral's enemies, had shot beyond his 
mark. 

In his complete humiliation, Columbus did not ven- 
ture to address the sovereigns, but his deeply affecting- 
letter to the nurse of Prince Juan — the intimate friend 
of the Queen — would be sufiicieutly direct. Its burn- 
ing appeals, so deeply founded in the facts of the case, 
were enough to bring up the blush from the coldest 
heart. No one can read this letter without the pro- 
foundest feelings of compassion ; and if the narrative 
is sometimes incoherent, as being the utterances of a 
heart thrown into a tempest of emotion rather than the 
stud^d statements of cool reason, they are only the 
more affecting. In advance of all other communications, 
this letter was sent secretly by express to the court. 
The images in the picture might be somewhat broken, 
but on the whole it was a faithful mirror of the pano- 
rama of the late outrage and persecution. Isabella was 
wellnigh heart-broken. Even the cool, calculating 
Ferdinand was intensely moved. Most emphatically 
disavowing the rash and cruel proceedings of Bobadilla, 
and announcing that he had gone contrary to their in- 
structions, they did not even wait for his files of accu- 
sation, but immediately ordered the prisoners' chains 
stricken off and that they should be treated with the 
utmost respect. A very cordial letter was then written 
to Columbus, expressing their unqualified displeasure 
at the indignities and sufferings he had endured, and in- 
viting him to appear at court. This invitation was 



COLUMBUS BEFORE THE SOVEREIGNS. 



447 



backed up by 2,000 ducats, to enable Him to come into 
their presence in a style becoming his rank. 

''He came thither on the 17th of December," says 
Herrera. This meeting of the aggrieved and out- 
raged Admiral with the sovereigns is one of the most 
affecting scenes in history. He knelt in their presence, 
his venerable, manly form shaken with the grief due 
to the great wrongs which he had received in return 
for his incalculable services. The King was moved ; 
Isabella was in tears. The Admiral wept and sobbed 
like a heart-broken child, " not being able to utter a 
word," says Herrera, " for the greatness of the concern 
he had upon him. They bade him rise, and then he 
made a lamentable speech, protesting that it had 
always been his intention and desire to serve them 
with the utmost fidelity ; and that if he had been 
guilty of any mistakes, they had been occasioned 
through want of knowing better, having always 
believed that what he did was for the best." 

This was a scene over which a court might well 
weep. So great a wrong to so great a benefactor finds 
no parallel in history. 

For the sovereigns the situation was exceedingly 
embarrassing. How should they free themselves from 
accountability in an act so outrageous as this of Boba- 
dilla, their commissioner ? How might they conciliate 
the common indignation ? How far they were respon- 
sible the world ma}^ never know. Common sense will 
always justify the words of Columbus: " I have been 
wounded extremely by the thought that a man should 
have been sent out to make inquiry into my conduct 
who knew that if he sent home a very aggravated 



448 BOBADILLA DISCLAIMED. 

account of the result of His investigation lie would 
remain at tlie head of the government." Too much 
power this, altogether, for one man, especially such a 
man as Bobadilla. " While Fonseca had some of the 
wisdom along with the venom of the serpent," sa3'S 
Mr. Fiske, " Bobadilla was simply a jackass, and 
behaved so that in common decency the sovereigns 
were obliged to disown him. They took no formal or 
public notice of his Avritten charges against the Ad- 
miral, and they assured the latter that he should be 
reimbursed for his losses and restored to his viceroy- 
alty and other dignities." 

This promise, however, could not be fulfilled at 
present. The rage of the Castilians in Hispaniola 
against the Admiral, if wellnigh subdued by his 
triumphs alike over them and the natives just before 
the arrival of Bobadilla, had been so encouraged and 
stimulated by the indiscretions of that official that the 
immediate return of the viceroy was out of the ques- 
tion. 

" When the two caravels that carried awa\^ the 
Admiral and his brothers from Hispaniola were gone," 
saj^s Herrera, " Francis de Bobadilla, the new governor, 
made it his whole study to please the Spaniards, who 
were about three hundred, the Admiral having 
informed their Majesties that it was a sufficient num- 
ber to keep the island in subjection, especially since 
they had taught the dogs to bite, for one single Span- 
iard went about as safe with a dog as if he had been 
guarded by a hundred men. Bobadilla, in the first 
place, speedily concluded all the proceedings about those 
that were to have been hanged, clearing them and 



B OB A DIL LA'S ME A S URE S. 449 

Francis Roldan and all the rest that were guilty, hon- 
oring and rewarding them, which was very disagreeable 
to those who had behaved themselves well, who said 
that if they had lived in a disorderly manner and 
ruined the island they should have been rewarded. 
Bobadilla having been so free in granting that the King 
should have only the eleventh part of the gold that was 
found, besides many other liberties, the Spaniards made 
bold to ask him to give them Indians to work at it for 
them and to till the ground. He advised them to join 
two and two in partnership, and appointed them the 
people belonging to the caciques, bidding them make 
the best use of their time, for they knew not how long 
it would last, little regarding the oppression of the 
Indians ; and thus the Spaniards were better pleased 
with that libertine sort of life than the discipline they 
had been kept under by the Admiral." 

To relieve Columbus for two years at least from the 
pandemonium he would have now found in Hispaniola, 
in consequence of the above mismanagement, would 
seem to have been a very kind and merciful provision. 
Probably Isabella was sincere in endorsing it, but it is 
more than probable that it was only a pretext with Fer- 
dinand. The boundaries of the newly discovered 
country had been very suggestively enlarged by the 
several expeditions which had recently sailed on their 
own account. Ojeda's voyage to the pearl regions of 
Paria and far to the westward in 1499 ^^'^^ soon fol- 
lowed by that of Pedro Alonzo Nino along Cuba and 
Paria, bringing back immense stones of gold and pearls, 
obtained in exchange for a few cheap baubles and 
trinkets. If Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who also made a 



450 



PBRPLEXITT OF FERDINAND 



voyage in 1499, v/as not equally successful in a commer- 
cial point of view, he liad reported an immense stretch 
of discovery from the easternmost shores of Brazil, past 
the mouth of the Amazon, across the Gulf of Paria, the 
Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. Had he not 
extended the newly discovered country to regions be- 
yond the equator, v/here he could no longer be guided 
by the polar star? Who could conjecture what intelli- 
gence and profit Rodrigo de Bastidas, accompanied by 
La Cosa and Vasco Nunez Balboa, might bring back 
in return from the voj^age just undertaken in order to 
extend the explorations of Ojeda beyond the Bay of 
Venezuela ? Had not John and Sebastian Cabot intro- 
duced England to the coasts in the north ? Were not 
English ships reported as prowling about among his 
newly discovered islands ? What must have been his 
musings on hearing from the ship which Cabral, on his 
way to India, had sent back to report the finding of a 
territory to the southeast of the Gulf of Paria, extend- 
ing east of the Pope's line ! Ferdinand was bewil- 
dered with the news of so much new country. It must 
be colonized at once by local governments, all under 
the general government established at San Domingo. 
But it would never do to establish a viceroy there, wdio 
was a foreigner, and who had the power to transmit all 
his prerogatives and powers to his descendants for- 
ever ! 

Meanwhile, was there not other employment for this 
restless old Genoese mariner? He had discovered 
strong currents moving to the westward, along the 
Pearl Coast, and believed there was a passage some- 
where to the west, south of Cuba, which would admit 



NICHOLAS DE OVANDO. 451 

him to some large sea about the Golden Chersonesus. 
Here he might become as rich as Vasco de Gama had 
proved himself on return from Calacut, in India. 
Therefore, when the King proposed a fourth voyage of 
discovery to the Admiral, in order that he might find 
this much-desired passage, the scheme was adopted 
without much hesitation. Affairs at Hispaniola were 
too stormy for Columbus to be returned at once. Boba- 
dilla must be removed as soon as possible. The per- 
son chosen to supersede him for the present was 
Nicholas de Ovando, who, according to Las Casas, had 
a high character for sobriety and justice. He was in- 
vested with great authority over all the newly dis- 
covered territories. One-third of all the gold on hand 
and half of all which should be accumulated after his 
arrival was to be laid aside for the royal exchequer. 
All trade should be in the monopoly of the crown. The 
colonists should dwell, as much as possible, in commu- 
nities. All supplies must come through the ro3'al fac- 
tor. Every effort must be made for the conversion of 
the natives, who could now work the mines on wages 
from the crown. As the natives were dying at an alarm- 
ing rate under the exhaustive labors in the mines, the 
negroes, a hardier race, might be introduced to take their 
place, as slaves. Those born in Spain were preferred, 
perhaps, on account of their better influence over the 
natives. Would not the raw heathen recruits from 
Africa be demoralizing ? Columbus might appoint an 
agent to look after his affairs in Hispaniola, especially 
the restitution of his property which Bobadilla had 
appropriated. Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal was chosen. 
Ovando's fleet, which sailed February 13, 1502, 



452 



OVANDO'S FLEET. 



was a striking display of official pomp and magnifi- 
cence. The thirty ships included a considerable num- 
ber of heavy tonnage, and the 2,500 people comprised 
many cavaliers and persons of rank. The governor, 
brilliant in silks and brocade, had a body-guard of 
twenty-two esquires, mounted and foot. There were 
no prison-convicts this time, but respectable married 
men, with their families. Humboldt has but expressed 
the feelings of historical students in general in con- 
trasting this grand fleet of the new g:overnor with the 
paltry squadron which was to bear away on one of the 
most perilous voyages the Admiral to whose active 
enterprise, courage, and heroic sufferings Spain was in- 
debted for these new regions of boundless promise. 

But it was not a mere popularity of the new gov- 
ernor which induced so large an embarkation. The 
voyages of the late adventurers had brought the New 
World into notoriety. The pearl-bearing coasts of 
Paria were now regarded as a real source of wealth, and 
the gold-mines of Hayna were " panning out " so largely 
as to create a new sensation. The colonists, too, were 
becoming acclimated, and some semblance of civiliza- 
tion had obtained. People might now hope to live with 
comfort in the Indies. 

But the gay ships were soon writhing in a terrible 
gale. " A large ship was immediately sunk, called 
Rabida, carrying one hundred and twenty men ; the 
rest were dispersed, throwing overboard all that was 
upon deck. Two caravels also that came from the 
Canaries, laden with sugar, were cast away, and the sea 
drove the chests, casks, and timber of them on the 
coast of Cadiz and other parts, as well as what had 



STORM A T SEA. 4^3 

been on board the ship La Rabida. Hence it was gen- 
erally concluded that the whole fleet had been lost in 
that tempest, and the news flew to their Majesties, who 
were still at Granada, which grieved them so much that 
the}^ retired for eight days and would be seen by no- 
body." ^ The fleet, less one, reached San Domingo the 
middle of April, 1502. 

How was the active mind cf C.^umbus occupied 
during these years of waiting? He was composing 
his Libros de las Proficias^ a treatise on the fulfilment of 
certain prophesies, particularly in Isaiah, in which he 
sees his achievements as a realization. This manu- 
script, not in the handwriting of Columbus, however — 
for his rheumatic hand was probably incapacitated — is 
still in the Biblioteca Columbina at Seville. Certain 
selections from it have been published in the I'amous 
collection of documents by Navarrete. I'j was still 
impressed with the duty of rescuing the Holy Sepul- 
chre — how could he, a son of Genoa, that victim of the 
Moors and seat of the Crusades, feel otherwise ? — and 
appealed to the sovereigns for support in the under- 
taking. He believed that the end of the world was 
near — within some 155 years. This notion was based 
on an opinion of St. Augustine, that the world would 
endure but 7,000 3'ears, nearly all of which time, 
according to the most approved methods of reckoning, 
was then passed. A letter written to the Pope about 
this time regards the suspension of his titles and 
riehts as a device of Satan to prevent his anticipated 
enterprise in respect to the Holy Sepulchre. Hum- 
boldt, hndmg the early career of Columbus marked 

Herrera. 



454 TITLES AND PRER O GA TI VES. 

with a deep and earnest piety, adds : " The religious 
sentiment thus early evinced by Columbus became 
converted, v/ith increasing years and under the in- 
fluence of the persecutions which he had to encounter, 
into a feeling of melancholy and morbid enthusiasm." 
This is no doubt true. But, under all and over all, 
we discover a sublime faith in the unerring results of 
Divine Providence. 

It was about this time that Columbus attested before 
a notary in Seville those documents affirming his 
titles and prerogatives which are so carefully pre- 
served at Genoa. 

" We are told by the Decurions of Genoa," says Mr. 
Robert Dodge, " that the library of the Count Michael 
Angelo Cambiasi, a former Senator of that city, was, 
after his death, in July, 1816, advertised for sale. Its 
catalogue contained as one of its Nos. the ' Codice die 
Privilegii del Colombo.' The Decurions of Genoa, 
anxious to procure this treasure, had the public sale ad- 
journed until the King's answer had been received to 
their memorial on the subject. The King of Sardinia, 
Victor Kmanuel, earnestly seconded their wishes, order- 
ing the originals to be deposited in the archives of the 
court at Turin, where, an accurate copy having been 
taken, at the solicitations of the Decurions of Genoa, 
the originals were given up to them and the copy left 
at Turin. The originals were received by Genoa on the 
29th day of January, 182 1, and shortly after a beautiful 
monument or custodia^ being a marble pillar surmounted 
by a bust of Columbus, was erected as their honored 
depository, and placed in an apartment in the beautiful 
marble palace of the Doges of Genoa. 



>.. -A 



THE CUSTODIA. 



455 



" A small door of gilded 
bronze, in the centre, opens 
to still another door of simi- 
lar material, behind which, 
in their golden receptacle, are 
preserved the sacred relics. 
The closet is secured by two 
keys, which are kept respec- 
tively as appurtenances of of- 
fice by the Senator and by 
the Cardinal Legate of Ge- 
noa, during their terms of of- 
fice. To see the relics, both 
ke3'S must be obtained on 
written application to these 
dignitaries. 

''The documents contained 
in this monument to Colum- 
bus consist of forty-four sepa- 
rate charters, warrants, or- 
ders, and grants of privileges, 
beautifully engrossed on vel- 
lum by the art of the copj-ist 
and illuminator of that age, 
and the (3) autograph letters 
of Columbus. 

" The documents are en- 
closed in a bag of richly gilt 
and embossed scarlet Spanish 
leather, with a silver lock, 
being the ' book of copies of 
his letters and privileges,' \ 




456 



TRANSLATION OF LETTER. 



wHcli in 1502, when lie set off upon his fourth and last 
voyage, he entrusted to the care and guardianship of 
Signer Francesco de Rivarolo, to forward to his intimate 
friend at Genoa, ' the most learned doctor,' as he styles 
him, and ' the embassador ' Signor Nicolo Oderigo, for 
his safe-keeping and preservation."^ 

Of the autograph letters contained in the custodia^ two 
are addressed to Oderigo, the first dated March 21, 
1502, just before the Admiral sailed on his fourth voy- 
age ; the second^ December 27, 1504, soon after his 
return. The third letter is addressed to the Bank of St. 
George in Genoa, and is given \vl facsimile on the fol- 
lowing page. 

The following is the translation : 

High Noble Lords : Although the body walks 
about here, the heart is constantly over there. Our 
Lord has conferred on me the greatest favors to any 
one since David. The results of my undertaking 
already appear, and would shine greatly were they 
not concealed by the blindness of the government. 
I am going again to the Indies under the auspices of 
the Holy Trinity, soon to return ; and since I am 
mortal, I leave it with my son Diego that you may 
receive every year, forever, one-tenth of the entire 
revenue, such as it may be, for the purpose of reduc- 
ing the tax upon corn, wine, and other provisions. 
If that tenth amounts to something, collect it. If not, 
take at least the will for the deed. I beg of you to 
entertain regard for the son I have recommended to 
you. Nicolo de Oderigo knows more about my ov/n 
affairs than I do myself, and I have sent him tran- 
scripts of my privileges and letters for safe-keeping. 

^ See Robert Dodge's Memorials of Columbus. 



LETTER TO BANK OF ST GEORGE. 457 



I ^ih fjo ^ W JOmI J»«rV<»$^^ (jh-^%^ va,>vO^ z' J'wiy' 

•jr i i- 



458 



TRANSLATION OF LETTER. 



I should be glad if you could see them. My Lords 
the King and Queen endeavor to honor me more than 
ever. May the Holy Trinity preserve your noble 
persons, and increase the most magnificent house 
(of St. George). Done in Seville on the 2d day of 
April, 1502. 

Chief Admiral of the ocean, Viceroy 
and Governor-general of the islands 
and continents of Asia and the Indies 
of my Lords the King and Queen, their 
captain-general of the sea, and of their 
council. 

s. 

S. A. S. 

X M Y 

X/^-o ferens. 




CHAPTER XX. 

COLUMBUS'S FOURTH VOYAGE. 

I HE Strong current to the westward, between 
South America and the larger West India 
I Islands, was not seeking an outlet in some 
western channel, as Columbus supposed. It was that 
equatorial current which, setting across from the 
African coast, passes around at the west end of Cuba 
and by the south shore of Florida, and then, bearing 
away to the northeast just outside the Atlantic coast, 
is known as the Gulf Stream. But the conjecture of 
Columbus was about as correct as could have been 
made at the time, and gave direction to this his last 
voyage, which may be considered at once the most 
trying and least important of them all. 

As anticipated in his imagination, however, it was a 
grand scheme. Locating his supposed /r/^'>? about where 
that narrow tongue of land, the Isthmus of Darien, 
separates two immense oceans, the Atlantic and the 
Pacific, he intended to reach the Indies, from which 
Vasco de Gama^ had recently brought so much treasure ; 
and thus joining the country he had discovered with 
the gorgeous orient of antiquity, pass over the Indian 
ocean and around Africa, and return to Europe by 
sailing around the globe. Had the world but been 

^ It would seem clear that the grand commercial and financial success of 
de Gama's voyage to Calicut, 1497-1498, and the consequent jealousy in 
Spain, was the mainspring to mo\''e Columbus in search of a pass direct to 
the heart of India. 



460 THE VOYAGE IN FAVOR AT COURT. 

true to liis conception, this would certainly have been 
one of the grandest voyages ever mapped out, and it 
would be simply carrying out his scheme, already in 
mind, when he was on the south of Cuba during his 
second voyage. Then his men were exhausted by the 
hardships of a long and tedious expedition, his stores 
were wellnigh consumed, and his ships honeycombed by 
the teredo. Now he would start out fresh, with his aim 
directly before him. 

The King and Queen were profoundly interested in 
the sketch of his plan, but some in the royal council 
hesitated. Was not the treasury low ? Did they not 
need their scant resources for more pressing claims ? 
Besides, they had not yet received return letters from 
Ovando. This of&cial might disclose such turpitude 
on the part of the Admiral in Hispaniola as would 
prevent his freedom on the ocean ! But Ferdinand 
was eager for the results of so promising an under- 
taking, and Isabella would listen to no suggestion 
which might deny the Admiral his small squadron. 
How shamefully would such ingratitude contrast with 
the grand fleet and princely retinue of Ovando, but now 
sailing away to govern the vast territories discovered 
by this same Admiral, who had just been sent home 
from his country in chains ! 

We know that the brave Bartholomew Columbus, who 
was wanted as the companion of the great discoverer, 
did not take very readily to the enterprise. If his peril- 
ous efforts in the past had met with so poor an appre- 
ciation, what had he to hope for in the future ? Indeed, it 
would seem that there was finaljy some hesitancy on the 
part of the Admiral himself. Why did the sovereigns send 



COL UMB US HESITA TES. 461 

him the following significant lines ? — " Be assured that 
your imprisonment was very displeasing to us, which you 
were sensible of, and all men plainly saw, because as soon 
we heard of it we applied the proper remedies. And 
you know with how much honor and respect we have 
always ordered you to be treated, which w^e now direct 
should be done, and that you receive all worthy and 
noble usage, promising that the privileges and preroga- 
tives by us granted you shall be preserved in ample 
manner, according to the tenor of our letters-patents, 
which 3^ou and your children shall enjoy without any 
contradiction, as is due in reason ; and if it be requisite 
to ratify them anew we will do it, and will order that your 
son be put into possession of all, for we desire to honor 
and favor you in greater matters than these. And be 
satisfied we will take the due care of your sons and 
brothers, which shall be done when you are departed ; for 
the emploj-ment shall be given to your son, as has been 
said. We therefore pray you not to delay your de- 
parture." " This their Majesties wrote," says Fernando 
Columbus, " because the Admiral had resolved not to 
trouble himself any more with the affairs of the Indies." 

He adds : " The Admiral, having been well dispatched 
by their Catholic Majesties, set out from Granada for 
Seville in the year 1501, and being there, so earnestly 
solicited the fitting out of his squadron that in a small 
time he had rigged and provided four ships, the big- 
gest of seventy, the least of fifty tons burden, and one 
hundred and forty men and boys, of which number I 
was one." 

With these few frail vessels and this small number 
of men, the Admiral, burdened with years and the in- 



462 THE FLEET SAILS. 

firmities aud diseases wliicli his many anxieties and 
great hardsHps had brought on, was about to sail round 
the world. But his mind was still buoyant with hope 
and enthusiasm. His expressive gray eye could still 
kindle with delight at the thought of disclosing some 
new part of this great world to mankind. 

Fernando, then scarcely fourteen years of age, must 
have been susceptible of the most vivid impressions as 
one event after another made up the history of the voy- 
age. " We set sail from Cadiz,'' he says, " on the 9th of 
May, 1502, and sailed to St. Catherine's, whence we 
parted on Wednesday, the nth of the same month, and 
went to Arzilla to relieve the Portuguese, who were re- 
ported to be in great distress, but when we came thither 
the Moors had raised the siege. The Admiral, there- 
fore, sent his brother, D. Bartholomew Colon, and me, 
with the captains of the ships, ashore, to visit the gov- 
ernor of Ar/jilla, who had been wounded by the Moors 
in an assault. He returned the Admiral thanks for the 
visit and his offers, and to this purpose sent some gen- 
tlemen to him, among whom were some relatives to 
Dona Philippa Moniz, the Admiral's wife in Portugal. 
The same day we set sail, and arriving at Gran Canaria 
on the 20th of May, cast anchor among the little 
islands, aud on the 24th went over to Mospalomas, in the 
same island, there to take in wood and water for our 
voyage. The next night we set out for the Indies, and 
it pleased God the wind was so fair that, without hand- 
ling the sails, on Wednesday, the 15th of June, we 
arrived at the island Matinino with a rough sea and 
wind. There, according to the custom of those that sail 
from Spain to the Indies, the Admiral took in fresh 



A BAD SAILING SHIP. 463 

wood aud water, and made the men wash their linen, 
staying till Saturday, when we stood to the westward, 
and came to Dominica, ten leagues from the other. So, 
running along the Caribbee Islands, we came to Santa 
Cruz, and on the 24th of the same month ran along the 
south side of the island of St. John. Thence we took 
the way for San Domingo, the iVdmiral having a mind to 
exchange one of his ships for another, because it was a 
bad sailer, and besides could carry no sail, but the side 
would lie almost under water, which was a hindrance to 
his vo37age, because his design was to have gone directly 
upon the coast of Paria and keep along that shore till 
he came upon the strait, which he certainly con- 
cluded was about Veragua and Nombre de Dios. But, 
seeing the fault of the ship, he was forced to repair to 
San Domingo to change it for a better." 

But what was now the condition of this little com- 
munity? Ovaudo had arrived on the 15th of April. 
His official pomp and splendid retinue and appoint- 
ments threw Bobadilla completely into the shade. The 
late governor-general's quasi popularity, founded only 
in a catering to greed for gain and an indulgence of sin 
and rebellion, now forsook him utterly. He was not 
sufficiently noticed to be the subject of an accusation, or 
even a harsh word. He was simply nonentity. 

Roldan and his accomplices did not escape so easil3^ 
They were the subjects of a searching investigation, 
and most of them were ordered to Spain to answer for 
their doings. But none of them seemed uneasy as to 
the result. Had they not influential friends at the 
court? Was not Fonseca on their side — on the side of 
any one who might be hostile to Columbus ? At any 



464 



THE ROAST PIG. 



rate, the great quantity of gold they were about to take 
home would cover " a multitude of sins." 

The returniug ships of Ovaudo's fleet were also to 
take back the idle, dissolute, and good-for-nothing fel- 
lows who, strolling over the island, were the occasion 
of nearly all the disturbances. The flag-ship was to 
carry Bobadilla and his vast quantity of gold, amassed 
by cruelly oppressing the natives. This he confidently 
hoped would be an ample makeweight against all charges 
which might be brought against him. Roldan would 
make him company ; and somewhere in the same ship 
was stored awa}^ the kind-hearted and patient Guarionex, 
who had been a prisoner in Fort Conception ever since 
the Higuayan war. He was now to appear in Spain 
a captive, in chains. In this same ship was placed 
that famous nugget of gold which had been acci- 
dentally raked out of a brook by an Indian girl. It was 
estimated at 1,350,000 niaravedis, or about two thou- 
sand dollars. This remarkable find had been celebrated 
by a grand dinner of roast pig, served on the enormous 
mass of precious metal as a platter. What king had 
dined off a plate like this ! But where was the poor 
Indian girl at this time ? Las Casas thinks she was 
lucky if she got a taste of the pig \ 

In the poorest ship of the fleet sailed Carvajal, in 
charge of four thousand pieces of gold belonging to 
Columbus. Some of it was revenue recently collected, 
and some was that which Bobadilla had been com- 
pelled to restore. 

The splendid fleet was all ready to sail on the 29th 
of June, when the little squadron of Columbus ap- 
peared. Pedro de Jerreros, one of his captains, was 



THE COMING TEMPEST. 465 

sent at once to ask for the vessel needed in the place 
of the one so extremely faulty, and to entreat permis- 
sion to shelter the ships in the harbor during a com- 
ing storm, of which the Admiral was exceedingly 
apprehensive. Both these requests were denied. 

If Columbus was refused shelter from the approach- 
ing hurricane, he would do what he could to prevent 
the destruction of the fleet about to sail. Immediately, 
therefore, he sent back the ofiicer to the governor, to 
entreat him not to leave the harbor under eight days, 
as there were unmistakable signs of a tempest just 
at hand. , 

The sky was so clear, the air so calm, and the water 
so smooth that the whole face of nature seemed to 
contradict this prognostication. The pilots in the 
harbor made a loud jest of the Admiral. Surely he 
was a false prophet ! But the practised eye of the old 
seaman was not to be hoodwinked. Whether from 
" the porpoises and other such like fishes playing upon 
the surface of the water," or any " other such observa- 
tions," ^ he could afford to act on his own prophesies. 
His crews murmured at being under a man so out of 
favor that they could not be allowed that privilege 
of shelter which any stranger might claim. What 
would tlie}^ do in these far-off and dangerous waters if 
any calamity should befall them in this coming 
tempest ? " And though the Admiral was concerned 
on the same account," says Fernando Columbus, 
" yet it more vexed him to behold the baseness and 
ingratitude used towards him in that country he had 
given to the honor and benefit of Spain, being refused 

1 Herrera, Dec. i, book v, chap. i. 



466 



THE ADMIRAL'S SHIPS. 



to shelter his life in it. Yet his prudence and j udg- 
ment secured his ships till the next day ; the tempest 
increasing, and the night coming on very dark, three 
ships broke from him, every one its own way ; the 
men aboard each of them, though all of them in great 
danger, concluded the others were lost ; but they that 
suffered most were those aboard the ship called 
Santo^ who, to save their boat which had been ashore 
with the captain, Jerreros, dragged it astern, where 
it overset, and were at last forced to let it go to save 
themselves. But the caravel Bermuda was in much 
more danger, which, running out to sea, was almost 
covered with it, by which it appeared the Admiral had 
reason to endeavor to change it ; and all men con- 
cluded that, under God, the Admiral's brother was 
the saving of her by his wisdom and resolution, for, 
as has been said above, there was not at that time a 
more expert sailor than he. So that after they had 
all suffered very much, except the Admiral, it pleased 
God they met again upon Sunday following in the 
port of Azua, on the south side of Hispaniola, where, 
every one giving an account of his misfortunes, it 
appeared that Bartholomew Colon had weathered so 
great a storm by flying from land like an able sailor, 
and that the Admiral was out of danger b}^ lying close 
to the shore like a cunning astrologer, who knew 
whence the danger must come. Well might his 
enemies blame him, therefore, saying he had raised 
that storm by art 7nagtc, to be revenged on Bobadilla 
and the rest of his enemies that were with him, seeing 
that none of his four ships perished, and that of 
eighteen ^ which set out with Bobadilla, only one, called 

1 The number is given as twentj-eight bj other writers. 



THE HURRICANE. 467 

La Aguja^ or the Needle^ the worst of them all, held 
on its course for Spain, where it arrived safe, having 
on board four thousand pesos in gold, worth eight 
shillings a peso, belonging to the Admiral, the other 
three that escaped returning to San Domingo, shat- 
tered and in a distressed condition." 

With flying colors, with songs and music, the 
grand fleet of Bobadilla swelled its sails for the home- 
ward voyage, but they had scarcely reached the 
eastern end of the island when the fury of the hurri- 
cane burst upon them. The midnight darkness, the 
howling tempest, the electric blaze and thunder crash, 
with an ocean lashed into wild fury — an inconceivable, 
indescribable catastrophe, almost as sudden as an 
earthquake, engulphed twenty-six ships. Bobadilla, 
R.oldan and his accomplices, and poor Guarionex 
anticipated the tribunals of Spain. The fabulous 
quantities of gold wrung from the suffering toils of 
the oppressed natives, including the two-thousand- 
dollar nugget, went down into the ocean's abyss with 
them. 

Las Casas, who was in Hispaniola at the time, says : 
" We will not inquire now into this remarkable divine 
judgment, for at the last day of the world it will be 
made quite clear to us." To affirm divine judgment 
is at any time a great assumption. Who may draw 
the line between mere fortuity in the forces of nature 
and a special exercise of the divine will ? But it is 
safe to say that the noted catastrophe referred to 
appears as much like a divine visitation as anything 
we could conceive ; and whoever believes in prov- 
idence — and who does not ? — will be likely to regard 
it as such. 



468 ^ BREATHING SPELL. 

" The Admiral, in the port of Azua, gave his men a 
breathing time after the storm," says Fernando 
Columbus, who was in the fleet, " and it being one of 
the diversions used at sea to fish when there is nothing 
else to do, I will mention two sorts of fish among the 
rest which I remember were taken there ; the one of 
them was pleasant, the other wonderful. The first 
was a fish called saavina, as big as half an ordinary 
bell, which, lying asleep above the water, was struck 
with a harping iron from the boat of the ship Bisceina^ 
and held so fast that it could not break loose ; but 
being tied with a long rope to the boat, drew it after it 
as swift as an arrow, so that those aboard the ship, 
seeing the boat scud about, and not knowing the occa- 
sion, were astonished it should do so without the help 
of the oars, till at last the fish sunk, and being drawn 
to the ship's side, was then hauled up with the tackle. 
The other fish was taken after another manner ; the 
Indians call it manatee, and there are none of the sort 
in Europe ; it is as big as a calf, nothing differing 
from it in the color and taste of the flesh, but that 
perhaps it is better and fatter ; wherefore those that 
affirm there are all sorts of creatures in the sea will 
have it that these fishes are real calves, since within 
they have nothing like a fish, and feed only on the 
grass they find along the banks. "^ 

After encountering another storm, they put out again 
on the 14th of July, but the wind was so light that 
they were carried away by the currents, first to some 
islands near Jamaica, and to the Queen's Gardens, 
then on the south of Cuba. On the 27th, the wind 

^ The MAnatus amertcaitus, closely related to the Cetaceans. 



UNDER SAIL AGAIN. 



469 



favoring, tliey sailed to the southwest, and on the 30th 
reached the island Guanaja, now Bonacca, some 30 
miles from the coast of Honduras. The second in size 
of the Ba}?- Islands, it is some 12 miles long and from one 
to three miles wide, and rises i ,200 feet. The crews were 
impressed with its fertility and verdure, especially its 
lofty pines. The inhabitants were similar to those 
found elsewhere in these parts, excepting their low 
foreheads. 

Notice that stately canoe, coming as if from a dis- 
tance, probably from Yucatan ! Long as a galley and 
eight feet wide, it has an elegant awning of palm 
leaves over the centre, not unlike the cabin of a Vene- 
tian gondola. Under this cozily sits a cacique with 
his wives and children, protected alike from sun and 
rain. Twenty-five Indians drive their strong paddles. 
Strangely enough, they have no fear of the Spaniards, 
but push right up to the side of the Admiral's caravel. 
This canoe must be on a journey, for it is fairly filled 
up with a great variety of manufactured articles and 
with the various products of the locality — a sort of 
voluntary exhibition of the things to be found here. 
And are not some of these weapons superior to any 
seen in these parts heretofore ? Those hatchets are 
not of stone, but of copper ! Here are wooden swords 
with double edges firmly set with sharp flints tied into 
grooves with the dried intestines of fishes ; such swords 
were afterwards found in Mexico. Here are bells, and 
also other articles, made of copper, with the rude 
crucible in which that metal was melted, and vessels 
of clay and of marble, and utensils made of hard 
wood. The provisions, too, are worth noticing — the 



470 ^ NE W STYLE OF NA TIVES. 

cacao, used both as food and as money ; a sort of beer 
made from maize ; also bread made from the same arti- 
cle, and spme made from roots. The women wear fine 
cotton mantles, richly worked in gay colors, and the 
men have cotton cloths abont the loins. Both sexes 
have a particular sense of modesty for Indians, which 
is especiall}^ noticed by the boy Fernando when they 
are hauled over the side of the ship as captured per- 
sons. "I must add," he says, " that we ought to 
admire their modesty ; for it falling out that, in getting 
them aboard, some were taken b}^ the clouts they had 
before their privities, they would immediately clap 
their hands to cover them ; and the women would hide 
their faces, and wrap themselves up, as we said the 
Moorish women do at Granada. This moved the 
Admiral to use them well, to restore their canoe, and 
give them some things in exchange for those that had 
been taken from them. Nor did he keep any one of 
them but an old man, whose name was Giumba, who 
seemed to be the wisest and chief of them, to learn 
something of him concerning the country, and that he 
might draw others to converse with the Christians, 
which he did very readil}^ and faithfully all the while 
we sailed where his language was understood. There- 
fore, as a reward for his services, when we came where 
he was not understood, the Admiral gave him some 
things, and sent him home very well pleased." 

Those Indians in the canoe at the island had 
endeavored, by signs, to tell something of the richness, 
industry, and cultivation of their country to the west- 
ward, and urged Columbus to steer in that direction. 
As soon as they perceived that he was in search of 



WESTWARD OR EASTWARD? 471 

gold, they gave him to understand that in their coun- 
try the people wore heavy crowns made of it, and great 
rings on their arms and legs ; that their chairs, tables, 
and chests were covered with it, and even their cloths 
were woven with it. When coral was shown them 
they intimated that their women wore it profusely as 
ornaments, hanging from the head down the back. 
They also claimed to have plenty of pepper, and to 
have ships, cannon, bows and arrows, swords, and all 
kinds of armor. This was true Indian style, and there 
may have been little or nothing in it ; but if Columbus 
had gone westward and discovered Yucatan and 
Mexico, who may conjecture how it might have 
improved his fortunes ! 

" Upon the information given b}^ that old Indian,"^ 
says Herrera, " the Admiral forbore proceeding to the 
westward, which would have carried him to Yucatan 
and New Spain, and, steering to the eastward,^ the first 
land he saw was a point, which he called de Casinas, 
because there were mau}^ trees on it, the fruit whereof 
is a sort of little apples, good to eat, in his language 
called casinas, as the Admiral said. The natives that 

^ This old Indian could draw a rude chart of the coast, and probably con- 
founding the isthmus with the Admiral's notion of a pass — for they could 
communicate only by signs — completely gained his confidence as a guide to 
the riches of the interior of India. 

- That Columbus came eastward against the westward current, which sug- 
gested his pass to India, has always been a mystery. But if Vespuccius's 
first voyage, 1497-149S— which must have been known to the Admiral — was 
westward along the Honduras coast, and around Yucatan, the Gulf of Mexico, 
and Florida, as Varnhagen has clearly shown, it is but in accordance with 
Columbus's usual good sense that he should have tried a new route in search 
of his desired pass, especially since his experienced Indian guide assured him 
that such pass was in this direction. He must have learned by this time that 
Cuba was an island, and that all along and around to the west and north 
was a continuous continent. 



472 



CHICKENS AND BEANS. 



lived nearest to that point wore jackets of fine colors, 
like the short shirts above spoken of, and small clouts 
to cover their nakedness. On Sunday, the 14th of 
August, the adelantado went ashore with many of the 
men to hear mass, as they generally used to do when 
they had an opportunit}" ; and the Wednesday follow- 
ing he went again to take possession for their Catholic 
Majesties, at which time he found above one hundred 
of the natives on the shore, loaded with provisions, as 
maize, fowl,'^ venison, fish, and fruit. When they came 
up to the adelantado, the Indians fell back without 
speaking one word, and he ordered they should give 
them looking-glasses, hawk's bells, pins, and the like ; 
and the next day above two hundred men appeared in 
the same place, loaded with such victuals, and several 
sorts of lupines,^ like beans, and other fruit, for the 
country is very fertile, green, and beautiful, w^here there 
was an infinite multitude of pine trees, oaks, six or 
seven sorts of palms, and many mirabolan-trees, bear- 
ing a pleasant and odoriferous fruit. They understood 
that there were leopards, and might have been informed 
that there were many tigers. Those people had not 
great foreheads, like the islanders, spoke several lan- 
guages ; some of them were quite naked, others only 
covered their privities, and others wore jackets without 
sleeves, that reached not below their navels. Their 
bodies were wrought with fire, like the Moors, some 
having lions, others stags, or such like creatures drawn 
on them ; instead of caps, they wore on their heads 
cotton clouts, white and red, and some of them had tufts 
of hair on their foreheads like fringes. 

^ Fernando Columbus says the fowls were large white hens and geese. 
* jLike red and white kidney-beans, Fernando says. 



COAST OF THE BAR. 



473 



" When tliej^ were fiue for their festivals, some colored 
their faces black, others red, others streaked with several 
colors, others painted tlieir chins and noses, and others 
made their eyes very black, all which were looked upon 
as great ornaments/ And because there were others 
along that coast who made such great holes in their 
ears that an o^gg might pass through them, he called 
that part la Costa de la Oreja^ or the Coast of the 
Ear." 

, We must now follow the little fleet to the eastward, 
along the Honduras coast, stemming the current which 
here runs westward like a mighty river, and beating 
against contrar}^ winds. To quote the Admiral's own 
language to the sovereigns : " Hence, as opportunity 
afforded, I pushed on for terra firma in spite of the wind 
and a fearful contrar}- current, against which I con- 
tended for sixty days, and during that time only made 
seventy leagues. All this time I was unable to get 
into harbor, nor was there an}" cessation of the tempest, 
which was one continuation of rain, thunder and light- 
ning; indeed, it seemed as if it were the end of the world. 
I at length reached the Cape of Gracios a Dios, and 
after that the Lord granted me fair wind and tide ; this 
was on the twelfth of September. Eighty-eight days 
did this fearful tempest continue, during which I was at 
sea, and saw neither sun nor stars ; my ships lay ex- 
posed, with sails torn, and anchors, rigging, cables, boats, 
and a great quantit}- of provisions lost ; my people were 
very weak and humbled in spirit, many of them prom- 
ising to lead a religious life, and all making vows and 
promising to perform pilgrimages, while some of them 

^ To the boy Fernando Columbus they looked like devils. 



474 ^^^ TEMPEST. 

would frequently go to their messmates to make con- 
fession. Other tempests have been experienced, but 
never of so long a duration or so fearful as this ; many 
whom we looked upon as brave men on several occasions 
showed considerable trepidation ; but the distress of my 
son who was with me grieved me to the soul, and the 
more when I considered his tender age, for he was but 
thirteen years old, and he enduring so much toil for so 
long a time. Our Lord, however, gave him strength 
even to enable him to encourage the rest, and he 
worked as if he had been eighty years at sea, and all 
this was a consolation to me. I mj^self had fallen sick, 
and was many times at the point of death, but from a 
little cabin that I had caused to be constructed on deck 
I directed our course. My brother was in the ship that 
was in the worst condition and the most exposed to 
danger ; and my grief on this account was the greater 
that I brought him with me against his will." ^ 

An inexpressible relief it must have been to Colum- 
bus and his crews when the ships rounded the cape to 
go south along what is now known as the Mosquito 
Coast. The eastern wind, against which thej^ had sailed 
with so much toil and hardship for nearly two months, 
was now on the beam^ and wafted them on delightfully. 
In pious recognition of the relief, Columbus named the 
cape Gracios a Dios — Thanks to God. The coast land- 
scape along which they sailed was greatly varied. Here 
a bold promontory, rugged and craggy, stretched out into 
the sea ; there a fertile vale, with verdant banks laved 
by charming rivers, delighted the eye. At the mouth 
of this river grew immense reeds, large as a man's leg ; 

^ Major's Select Letters. 



LA HUERTA—THE GARDEN. 



475 



the outlet of another swarmed with fishes, tortoises, and 
alligators. That cluster of twelve small islands near 
the coast bore a fruit resembling the lemon. 

Having sailed some sixty-two leagues in this direc- 
tion, and being much in need of wood and water, on the 
1 6th of September the boats were sent up a deep river, 
but as they returned a strong wind from off the sea 
brought the waves with such force against the current 
of the river that one of the boats was engulfed, and all 
on board were lost. This calamity cast a gloom over 
the weary crews, and the Admiral himself was so im- 
pressed with melancholy that he named this river El 
Rio del Disastre. 

On the 25th of September they reached an inviting 
place of anchorage, in the mouth of a river, opposite 
which was a most enchanting island, covered with 
luxuriant groves of palms. Here was also the graceful 
banana, with its curious blossoms and fruit at the same 
time ; the cocoanut tree, and a most fragrant and 
luscious fruit which the Admiral mistook for the 
mirabolane of the Hast Indies. So odoriferous and 
strikingl}^ beautiful were the flowers and shrubs on 
this island that he called it La Huerta — The Garden. 

Scarcely a league away was an Indian town named 
Cariari, finely located on a river. The country in 
every direction was charmingly diversified with hill 
and dale, and most luxuriant forests of such height 
that, as Las Casas says, they seemed to reach the sk}-. 

The natives, alarmed at the unwonted appearance 
of the ships, rushed to the shores, some armed " with 
bows and arrows, others with staves of palm-tree, as 
black as a coal and hard as horn, pointed wdth the 



476 



WEAPONS OF WAR. 



bones of fishes, others with clubs."^ The men, with 
hair braided and wrapped around their heads, and the 
women, with hair trimmed short, were all alike intent 
on the defence of their country. The Spaniards, 
however, made no attempt to land, but for two days 
remained on their ships, quietly resting or looking 
after their damaged provisions and their ships, already 
the worse for the voyage. The natives, seeing no 
signs of war on the part of the strangers, were 
inclined to be friendly. Being partially clothed, they 
take off their mantles and wave them like banners, 
thus inviting the Spaniards to land. They even swim 
to the ships, bringing their rude arms, " cotton jerkins 
and large pieces like sheets, and gumiinies^ which is 
pale gold they wear about their necks." But the 
Admiral will not trade. He will only make presents, 
for he wants the savages to know how generous these 
white men are ! 

The natives grow more earnest when they discover 
the strangers are not disposed to laud, and beckon to 
them still more emphatically. " At last," says Fer- 
nando Columbus, '' perceiving nobody went ashore, 
they took all the things that had been given them, 
without reserving any, and tying them together, left 
them in the same place where the boats first went 
ashore, and where our men found them on the Wed- 
nesday following, when they landed. The Indians 
about this place, believing that the Christians did not 
confide in them, they sent an ancient man of an awful 
presence with a flag upon a staff, and two girls, the 
one about eight, the other about fourteen years of age, 

^ Fernando Columbus, chapter xci. 



TIVO INDIAN GIRLS. 477 

who, putting them into the boat, made signs that the 
Christians might safely land. Upon their request they 
went ashore to take in water, the Indians taking great 
care not to do anything that might fright the Chris- 
tians, and when they saw them return to their ships 
they* made signs to them to take along with them the 
young girls with their giianinies about their necks, 
and at the request of the old man that conducted 
them they complied and carried them aboard." 

These young hostages manifested no fear whatever, 
but deported themselves in the most amiable and 
modest manner. This won upon the Admiral, who 
treated them most generously — feasting them, clothing 
them, and afterwards sending them ashore, where they 
were received with marked satisfaction. In the evening 
the Spaniards, going ashore again, met the girls, sur- 
rounded by a multitude of their friends. All the 
presents were returned. If the gifts of these savages 
could not be accepted, they were too proud to be put 
under obligations by receiving those of the strangers. 
This surely was a remarkable trait of independence 
which one cannot fail to respect. 

Everything was done by the Indians to win the 
Spaniards. The adelantado going ashore the next day, 
two of the principal persons, wading out into the water 
to meet him, lifted him out of his boat in their arms, 
carried him to land, and in the most reverential man- 
ner seated him on a grass plot. Thinking this was 
the time to draw out information from them as to the 
country, he began to ask them questions, and ordered a 
notary to take down their statements. The Indians 
looked with surprise on the pen, ink, and paper, and 



478 "I^HE INDIANS TAKE FRIGHT. 

mistaking the act of writing for the exercise of some 
necromatic art, fled in terror. Returning by and by, 
tliey scattered a sweet-smelling powder in tlie air, and 
burnt some of it in such a way as to cause the smoke to 
go towards the Christians, as if they were trying to 
counteract some evil spell. 

Before the ships left, the Admiral ordered his brother 
to go ashore, along with a number of others, and learn 
what he could of the nature of the country and the 
habits of the people. Though he did not find pure 
gold, he saw some quite extraordinary sights. In a 
great wooden palace covered with canes were " several 
tombs, in one of which there was a dead body dried up 
and embalmed ; in another, two bodies wrapped up in 
cotton sheets, without any ill scent ; and over each tomb 
was a board with the figures of beasts carved on it, and 
on some of them the effigies of the person buried there, 
adorned with guaninies^ beads, and other things they 
most value. These being the most civilized Indians in 
those parts, the Admiral ordered one to be taken and 
learn of him the secrets of the country ; and of seven 
that were taken, two of the chiefest were picked out 
and the rest sent away with some gifts and civil enter- 
tainment, that the country might not be left in an up- 
roar, telling them they were to serve as guides upon 
that coast, and then be set at liberty. But the^^ believ- 
ing they were taken out of covetousness, that they 
might ransom themselves with their goods and things of 
value, the next day abundance of them came down to 
the shore and sent four aboard the Admiral as their 
embassadors, to treat about the ransom, offering some 
things, and freely giving two hogs of the country, which. 



A BEAUTIFUL BAT. 47^ 

though small, are very wild. The Admiral, therefore, 
observing the policy of the people, was more desirous 
to be acquainted with them, and would not depart till 
he had learned something of them, but would not give 
ear to their offers. He therefore ordered some trifles 
to be given to the messengers, that they might not 
go away dissatisfied, and that they should be paid 
for their hogs."^ 

On the 5th of October the Admiral was again under 
way. Passing along what is now called Costa Rica, 
or Rich Coast, after sailing some twentj'-two leagues, 
he entered a magnificent ba^^, six leagues in length 
and three in breadth. There were three or four en- 
trances, and it was full of the most enchanting islands, 
laden with fruits and flowers, and the channels be- 
tween them being so deep and clear that they seemed 
like the canal streets of a city. As the vessels passed 
along, " the boughs of the trees touched the shrouds 
and rigging." Having cast anchor, the boats landed 
on one of these charming islands. Here were twenty 
canoes, the people being near b^^, among the trees. 
Their timidit}^, if they had any, was soon removed by 
the encouraging words of the Indian guides from 
Cariari, and they approached the Spaniards for barter. 
Here was the first pure gold found along these coasts. 
The natives had large plates of this precious metal 
hung to their necks by cotton cords. Some of the 
guanin or poor gold, also, in the shape of eagles, they 
had. So unconscious were these natives of the value 
of pure gold that one of them exchanged a large plate 
of it, v>'eighing ten ducats, for three hawk's bells. 

^ Fernando Columbus, chapter xci. 



480 INDIAN ORNAMENTS. 

Not far away, on tlie continent, there was plenty of it, 
they said. 

The next day the boats went to the mainland at 
the lower end of the bay. The shores were abrupt 
and hilly, the houses being grouped in villages about 
the highest points of the landscape. Behold the 
Indians in those ten canoes, their heads adorned with 
flowers and rude coronets made of beasts' claws and 
birds' quills ! Nearly all of them have plates of gold 
about their necks, but they will not part with them. 
How the Spaniards covet one of those plates, worth 
fourteen ducats, and that eagle worth twenty-two 
ducats ! But plenty of this metal can be obtained 
along the coast — particularly at Veragua, some 
twenty-five leagues distant. So say the natives. But 
the Admiral will not be delayed by barter, for he is 
in haste to find that strait mapped out in his head 
for so long a time. 

But the Spaniards cannot leave till they have 
caught some of those fishes of which there are abun- 
dant shoals in this bay. They also hunt the wild 
animals along the shore, and examine the roots used 
as food, and the grain and flowers. " The men, who 
are painted all over, face and body, of several colors, 
as red, black, and white, go naked, only covering 
their privities with a narrow cotton cloth. "^ 

From this bay, called Caravaro, they put out on the 
17th, and enter the river Guaig, some twelve leagues 
farther on. On attempting to land, they encounter 
two hundred Indians, armed with clubs and wooden 
swords and lances. Tkey rush into the water up to 

^ Fernando Columbus, chapter xcii. 



INDIAN THREATS. 



481 



their middle, brandisli their weapons, blow their concli- 
shells, beat their wooden drnms, throw salt-water at 
the strangers, and squirt at them the juice of the 
herbs they are chewing — tobacco, perhaps. But the 
Spaniards beckoned to them in a cordial manner, and 
the native interpreters spoke goodly words for them, 
and these savages were soon showing themselves 
friendly by trading away for a few trinkets seventeen 
plates of gold ^ wortJi one hundred and fifty ducats. 

The next day, the Spaniards came ashore again to 
renew their trade. The}^ found the Indians sitting 
along the shore, in a sort of booths they had extempo- 
rized during the night, and were afraid to land. They 
called to them, but none would come. Presently the 
Indians blew their conchs, beat their drums, gave 
their war-whoop as they ran into the water almost up 
to the boats, and threatened to hurl their darts if the 
strangers did not go awa3^ This was a little too 
much for the Spaniards. They shot a cross-bow and 
wounded one in the arm, then fired a cannon ; and the 
Indians, " thinking that the sky was falling upon 
them, took to their heels, striving who should be 
foremost." Now they were in a mood for trade. Four 
of the Spaniards landed, " and calling them back, they 
came very peaceably, leaving their arms behind 
them, and exchanged three plates of gold, saying they 
had no more, because they did not come prepared to 
trade, but to fight." 

Fully in the conviction that the supremely desired/'^«?5 
is in this direction, the Admiral continues along the 
coast, and they soon anchor in the mouth of a river 
called Cotiba, Here, also, the Indians are up in 



482 



BARTERING WITH THE INDIANS. 



arms. The forests eclio to tlie sound of conchs and 
drums — the people are being called out in defence 
against the strangers. Now a canoe with two Indians 
comes oflf from the shore, and inquires who these 
strange beings are and what they want. Exchanging 
a few words with the interpreters from Cariari, they 
are conciliated, and come on board the Admiral's ship 
in the most cordial manner, trading the gold plates 
suspended from their necks for trinkets. Satisfied as 
to the peaceable intention of the strangers, they go 
ashore to report the same to their cacique. Now there 
comes another canoe with three Indians. They also 
barter the gold plates from their necks. " Amity 
thus settled, our men went ashore, where they found 
abundance of people, with their king, who differed in 
nothing from the rest but that he was covered with 
one leaf of a tree, because at that time it rained hard ; 
and to give his subjects a good example he exchanged 
a plate of the precious metal and bade them barter for 
theirs, which in all were nineteen ducats of pure 
gold."^ 

The signs of civilization were surely encouraging, 
for here was a solid structure of stone and mortar. 
But it would not do to tarry. Before a fresh breeze, 
they ran past some five towns, where, the interpreters 
said, there was plenty of gold. Here, indeed, in Vera- 
gua, which name afterwards spread over the whole 
region, the plates of gold were made which they had 
seen along the coast. The next da}^, as they came to 
a town called Cubiga, the natives affirmed that they 
had reached the end of the gold coast. But this gold 

1 Fernando Columbus. 



THE STRAIT! 



483 



region they were thus leaving behind could be 
explored at any time. The grand desideratum now 
was the strait — alias Malacca. All unwittingly, the 
Indians were helping to form a great delusion in the 
mind of the Admiral. The narrow place they spoke of — 
just at hand — between the two seas was not ''''narrow 
zuater^'''' as he understood them, but " narrow landy 
But the mere language of gestures on the part of 
these savages was too awkward to be discriminating 
to the prejudiced mind of Columbus, so on they 
went for the '''' strait ^ Somewhere just the other side 
of this promising terra firma he would find all the 
wealth of India.^ Alas ! the rich country the natives 
were describing to him was as delusive as the strait ; for 
they, in all probability^, simply had vague conceptions 

^ The vision which now allured Columbus can best be given in his own 
words to the sovereigns concerning this voyage, written from Jamaica : 
" As I had found everything true that had been told me in the different 
places which I had visited, I felt satisfied it would be the same with respect 
to Ciguare, which, according to their account, is nine days' journey across 
the country westward; they tell me there is a great quantity of gold there, 
and that the inhabitants wear coral ornaments on their heads, and very 
large coral bracelets and anklets, with which article also they adorn and 
inlay their seats, boxes, and tables. They also said that the women there 
wore necklaces hanging down to their shoulders. All the people agree in 
the report I now repeat, and their account is so favorable that I should be 
content with the tithe of the advantages that their description holds out. 
They are all likewise acquainted with the pepper-plant. According to the 
account of these people, the inhabitants of Cignare are accustomed to hold 
fairs and markets for carrying on their commerce, and they showed me also 
the mode and form iu which they transact their various exchanges ; others 
assert that their ships carry guns, and that the men go clothed and use bows 
and arrows, swords, and cuirasses, and that on shore they have horses, 
which they use in battle, and that they wear rich clothes and have most 
excellent houses. They also say that the sea surrounds Ciguare, and that 
at ten days' journey from thence is the river Ganges; these lands appear to 
hold the same relation to Veragua as Tortosa to Fontarabia, or Pisa to 
Venice." 



484 



PUERTO BELLO. 



of the wealthy and semi-civilized nations of Central or 
South America. 

On the 2d of November the squadron entered a 
large and charming harbor. In every direction, the 
elevated landscape had the aspect of high cultivation. 
The houses, about a stone's throw or bow-shot from 
each other, were in the midst of fruit-trees, graceful 
groves of palm, corn-fields, and gardens abounding in 
vegetables and pineapples. This delightsome spot 
Columbus named Puerto Bello — Port Beautiful. A 
whole week of storm shut them in here. But the 
scene was enlivened by the native canoes going and 
coming constantly, with fruits, vegetables, and balls 
of cotton finely spun, " which they gave for some 
trifles, such as points and pins." Gold there was 
none, except the small plates hanging from the noses 
of the cacique and his seven principal men. The 
naked bodies of these people were painted red, and by 
way of contrast the cacique was black. 

On the 9th of November the fleet went to a point 
since called Nombre de Dios, eight leagues farther on ; 
but the next day they were forced back one-half that 
distance by stress of weather, and took refuge behind 
a group of islands. In every direction, on the islands 
and on the mainland, fields of Indian corn and fruit 
and vegetable gardens greeted the eye ; so the Ad- 
miral called this place Puerto de Bastimentos — Port of 
Provisions. 

Here they remained about two weeks, repairing their 
leaky vessels, which the teredos of these tropical seas 
had thoroughly riddled. During this stay they had 
at least one amusing incident. A boat well manned 



EL RE7RETE. 485 

went in pursuit of a canoe, and the Indians, taking 
fright as they came within a stone's throw, plunged 
into the water to try their chances of escape by swim- 
ming. The Spaniards pulled the oars with all their 
might for a mile and a half, but could not overtake 
one of them ; for as they approached an Indian he 
would " dive like a duck, and come up a bow-shot or 
two from the place." The boy Fernando enjoyed this 
chase exceedingly, and seemed pleased to see the 
boat return without so much as an Indian, after such 
strenuous and exhaustive exertions. 

November 23d they sailed farther on, and stopped 
at a place called Guiga, where they found some three 
hundred natives ready to trade away provisions and 
small gold ornaments in their noses and ears for the 
usual trinkets. Again they hoisted sail. On the 
24th boisterous weather drove the squadron into a 
small harbor, which the Admiral named El Retrete, 
" that is. Retired Place, because it could not contain 
above five or six ships together, and the mouth of it 
was not above fifteen or twenty paces over, and on 
both sides of it rocks appearing above the water as 
sharp as diamonds, and the channel between them 
was so deep that they found no bottom, though if the 
ships inclined never so little to either side the men 
might leap ashore."^ Both Las Casas and Fernando 
Columbus think that the Admiral was duped into 
this retreat by the desire on the part of his men sent 
to examine the place to communicate slyly with the 
natives. As the water was so deep that the vessels 
could not anchor, except near the bank, the sailors 

* Life of Columbus by his son, chapter xciii. 



486 'Jf^E INDIANS DEFT THE SPANIARDS. 

used to get away among the natives at night without 
permission. At first they were entertained with the 
usual hospitality, but their conduct was so outrageously 
covetous and licentious that their hosts soon sought 
revenge. Kvery night there were brawls, and before 
long there was bloodshed on both sides. Now the 
nearness of the ships to the shore was as convenient 
for an attack from the enraged Indians as it had been 
for the nightly escapes of the sailors. The Admiral 
was obliged to resort to his guns. But the mere noisy 
discharges of powder failed to terrify them. The sav- 
age throngs had become skeptical of the divine nature 
of these beings, worse than human, and they responded 
to the noise and smoke with shrieks and yells, and 
threshing the trees with their clubs and lances. This 
would never do. The ships were too near the shore 
to risk being boarded in an instant by this infuriated 
mob of savages. The guns were loaded with balls, 
and aimed at a hillock on which the natives were clus- 
tered. Now the general havoc " made them sensible 
there was a thunderbolt as well as thunder," and they 
fled in terror once and for all. 

We must not leave this close retreat without look- 
ing about on the shore. All around the land is low 
and level, the grass being thin, and the trees scattered 
here and there — the whole having the effect of a sort 
of open park. See those alligators which crawl out 
here in vast numbers to sun themselves on the beach ! 
The air is impregnated with their odor, "as if all the 
musk in the world were together." The Indians say 
that they will drag a sleeping man into the water ; but 
they seem quite timorous, and hustle into the sea like 
frightened seals when attacked. 



THE CRE US ARE IMP A TIENT. 487 

There was yet another phase to this weather-bound 
life of two weeks in El Retrete, among savages and 
alligators. The crews were becoming exceeding im- 
patient to turn back. " That strait''^ — what was the use 
of running after that strait ? What would they carry 
back from it? Better return to the gold coast they had 
been passing. Who could tell how much wealth they 
might take home from thence ? Many of the more 
ignorant and superstitious believed that the strong east 
and northeast winds shutting them in were the result 
of sorcery on the part of the Indians. And what 
defence could there be against such witchcraft ? 
The officers cried out against the crazy, worm-eaten 
ships. In the tempests which threatened them these 
would be crushed like mere shells. Even the Admiral 
himself might well be wondering why he did not reach 
the much-desired strait, and would surely become con- 
vinced of the folly of increasing the distance from 
home with such mutinous crews and unsafe crafts. He 
would go back to Veragua and lay in a store of gold, 
which might more than compensate for his failure in 
finding the " strait," and thus silence the cavillings 
of his enemies.^ 

" Here, then," sa3^s Irving, '^ ended the lofty anticipa- 
tions which had elevated Columbus above all mercenary 
interests, which had made him regardless of hardships 

^ Bastidas, in his recent voyage, had reached this point. Whether this 
was known to Cohiinbiis is not certain. On his way out, as he touched at 
San Domingo, where that navigator then was, he may have gained such in- 
telligence, or the natives around Veragua may have advised him. At any 
rate it must now have been pretty clear to the Admiral that the coast was 
" practically discovered from Trinidad to Guanaja, and that between these 
two islands is a shore-line of continent unbroken by any strait." — H. H. 
Bancroffs History oj Central America, vol. i, p. 217. 



488 HEAD WINDS. 

and perils and had given an heroic character to the 
early part of this voyage. It is true, he had been in 
pursuit of a mere chimera, but it was the chimera of a 
splendid imagination and a penetrating judgment. If 
he was disappointed in his expectation of finding a 
strait through the Isthmus of Darien, it was because 
nature herself had been disappointed, for she appears 
to have attempted to make one, but to have attempted it 
in vain." 

On the 5th of December the squadron put out from 
El Retrete. and sailing ten leagues westward anchored 
at night in Puerto Bello. They had barely passed into 
the open sea the next day when the wind shifted to the 
west. For three months he had hoped in vain for a 
wind in this direction. It seemed as if the wind was 
bound to be against him. Should he turn back and re- 
new his search for the strait f A west wind never lasted 
long in that region, at least at that time of year. 
Probably it would soon change. 

The wind increased and shifted about so from point 
to point that the sailors were completely baffled. Again 
they headed for Puerto Bello, but when, after great effort 
in getting back, they awaited a favorable wind to enter, 
it suddenly blew furiously off shore, driving the vessels 
out to sea. The sky was darkened, the clouds were 
heavily charged with electricity, and a most unparalleled 
tempest arose. " Never," says Columbus, " was the sea 
so high, so terrific, and so covered with foam ; not only 
did the wind oppose our proceeding onward, but it also 
rendered it highly dangerous to run in for any head- 
land, and kept me in that sea, which seemed to me as a 
sea of blood, seething like a cauldron on a mighty fire. 



A TEMPEST. 



489 



Never did the sky look more fearful ; during one day 
and one night it burned like a furnace, and every in- 
stant I looked to see if my masts and my sails were not 
destroyed, for the lightnings flashed with such alarm- 
ing fury that we all thought the ships must have been 
consumed. All this time the waters from heaven never 
ceased descending, not to say that it rained, for it was 
like a repetition of the deluge. The men were at this 
time so crushed in spirit that the}' longed for death as 
a deliverance from so many mart3'rdoms. Twice already 
had the ships suffered loss in boats, anchors, and rig- 
gings, and were now lying bare without sails." Fer- 
nando says, " When we were most in hopes to get into 
port we were quite beat off again, and sometimes with 
such thunder and lightning that the men durst not 
open their e3^es. The ships seemed to be just sinking, and 
the sky to come down. Sometimes the thunder was so 
continued that it was concluded some ship fired its can- 
non to desire assistance. Another time there would fall 
such storms of rain that it would last violently for two 
or three days, insomuch that it looked like another 
universal deluge. This perplexed all the men and 
made them almost despair, seeing they could not get 
half an hour's rest, being continually wet, turning some- 
times one way and sometimes another, struggling 
against all the elements, and dreading them all ; for in 
such dreadful storms they dread the fire in flashes of 
lightning, the air for its fury, the water for the terrific 
waves, and the earth for the hidden rocks and sands." 
But the storm reached its climax on Tuesday, the i3tli, 
when a great whirling cone rose out of the waves, and 
mounting towards the heavens met a like cone, which 



490 



A WATER-SPOUT. 



whirled downwards from tlie inky clouds, and tlie two, 
joining in an angry column connecting sea and sky, 
moved furiously toward the ships. Every face was 
ghastly white and shrieks of despair arose. The Ad- 
miral was stretched on liis couch on deck, helpless with 
a raging fever. Alarmed by the cries of the sailors, he 
sprang up to behold the writhing column almost upon 
him. Did ever man face a more stupendous peril ? In 
the helplessness of the moment he began to recite the 
gospel of St. John, describing a cross in the air with 
his sword. The whirling, dancing column, uniting the 
ocean beneath and the clouds above, passed between the 
ships and on cut of sight, causing no harm beyond 
making the water to boil and toss in every direction. 

" The ships being now almost shattered to pieces with 
the tempest," says Fernando Columbus, "and the men 
quite spent with labor, a day or two's calm gave them 
some respite, and brought such multitudes of sharks 
about the ships that they were dreadful to behold, 
especially for such as are superstitious, because, as it 
is reported that ravens at a great distance smell out 
dead bodies, so some think these sharks do, which if 
they lay hold of a man's arm or leg cut it off like a 
razor, for they have two rows of teeth in the nature of 
a saw. Such a multitude of these were killed with the 
hook and chain that, being able to destroy no more, 
they lay swimming about the water, and they are so 
greedy that they do not only bite at carrion, but may 
be taken with a red rag upon the hook. I have seen a 
tortoise taken out of the belly of one of these sharks, 
and it afterwards lived aboard the ship ; but out of an- 
other was taken the whole head of one of his own kind, 



SHARKS. 4QI 

we having cut it off and thrown it into the w^ater, as not 
good to eat, no more than they are themselves, and 
that shark had swallowed it, and to ns it seemed con- 
trary to reason that one creature should swallow the 
head of another of its own bigness, which is not to be 
admired,^ because their mouth reaches almost to their 
belly, and the head is shaped like an olive. Though 
some looked upon them to forbode mischief^ and others 
thought them bad fish, yet we all made much of them 
by reason of the want we were in, having been now 
above eight months at sea, so that we had consumed 
all the fish and flesh brought from Spain ; and that, 
with the heat and moisture of the sea, the biscuit was 
so full of maggots that, as God shall help me, I saw 
many that staid till night to eat the pottage or 
brewis made of it, that they might not see the mag- 
gots ; and others were so used to eat them that they 
did not mind to throw them away when the}^ saw 
them, because they might lose their supper if they 
were so ver}^ curious. 

"Upon Saturday, the 17th, the Admiral put into a 
port three leagues east of Pennon, which the Indians 
called Huiva. It was like a great bay, where we 
rested three days, and going ashore saw the inhabi- 
tants dwell upon the tops of trees, like birds, laying 
sticks across from bough to bough, and building huts 
upon them rather than houses. Though we knew not 
the reason of this strange custom, yet we guessed 
it was done for fear of the griffons there are in that 
country, or of enemies ; for all along that coast the 

* Or wondered at. 



492 



THE COAST OF CONTRASTS. 



people at every league's distance are great enemies to 
one another."^ 

Storms and shifting winds continue. Now they 
put out to sea, but again the wind changes to their 
disadvantage, or becomes so boisterous that they are 
obliged to run into the nearest harbor. Well, indeed, 
may the Admiral name this the " Coast of Contrasts." 
Having spent nearly a month in beating his way from 
Puerto Bello to Veragua, some thirty leagues, he 
sounded the river Yebra, which he named Belen or 
Bethlehem, and the Veragua. As the former was the 
deeper, notwithstanding its bar at the mouth, they 
entered it by means of the boats and found a village 
on its banks. Here they were confronted by a well- 
developed and brave people, who were disposed to con- 
test their landing, but were soon conciliated. Being 
questioned as to the gold-mines, they were at first 
inclined to be reticent or equivocal. Finally they 
gave the impression that they were to be found about 
the Veragua. To that river, therefore, the boats are 
sent the next day. These people must be of Carib 
origin. How else do they come to be so brave ? A 
whole fleet of canoes comes out to meet the Spaniards, 
and the shores are lined with men on defence. But 
the interpreter intercedes, saying that these peculiar 
strangers have come only to barter, and this soothes 
them and induces them to trade twent}^ plates of gold, 
several tubes filled with the precious dust, as well as 
masses of the crude ore, for trinkets and gewgaws as 
usual. They said the precious metal was obtained in 
the neighboring mountains. When they went in 

^ Fernando Columbus, chapter xciv. 



THE ^UJBIAN. 493 

searcli of it they fasted for twenty days aud left their 
women at home. 

These reports are so flattering that the Admiral 
concludes to sojourn in the vicinity. Belen being the 
deeper river, the two smaller caravels cross the bar 
January 9th, and the other two follow at flood-tide the 
next day. Now the natives become exceedingly 
cordial, and bring great quantities of fish, with which 
this river abounds ; also a variety of gold ornaments 
for traf&c, but it all conies from Veragua. 

To the Veragua, then, the adelantado will go with 
boats well armed. Having ascended half a league, 
he meets the Ouibian,^ or chieftain, tall, powerful, 
and of a warlike aspect. He is very amiable, and 
seems perfectly at ease amidst the canoes in which 
his subjects are attending him. He takes off his gold 
ornaments and gives them to the adelantado, highly 
gfratified over the trinkets and what-nots received in 
return. This powerful chief," wath many chiefs under 
him, is shrewd enough to see that he has met men of 
force and influence, such as he has not known 
hitherto. 

The next day he calls on the Admiral, and is well 
entertained. Impressive, indeed, it must have been to 
see these fine specimens of the human race, each from 

^ This is now regarded as a title rather than a name. 

* " On the whole, the Qi^iibian is as fine a specimen of his race as the ade- 
lantado is of his. And thus thej' are fairly met, the men of Europe and the 
men of North America; and as in the gladiatorial combat, which opens with 
a smiling salutation, this four-century struggle begins with friendly greet- 
ings. Pity it is they are outwardly not more evenly matched; pity it is 
that the European wilh his superior civilization, his saltpetre and blood- 
hounds, his steel weapons and strange diseases, should be allowed to do his 
robbery so easily." — H. H. Bancroft., Hist. Central America, vol. i, p. 220. 



494 THE STORM DEMONS. 

the opposite side of the globe, trying to communicate 
with each other by grimaces and gestures. The 
Quibian is " taciturn and cautious," exchanges some 
presents with the Admiral, and, after an hour, takes 
his leave. Meanwhile his attendants have " trucked " 
gold for gewgaws. 

But the ships are scarcel}^ more secure here in the 
river than they were outside in the sea. If Neptune 
failed to swamp them in the latter, the storm demons 
will open the floods upon the mountains in order that 
the rivers may run mad. The vessels are wrenched 
from their anchorage and hurled against each other, 
and the foremast of the Admiral's ship is carried 
away. Neither can they run out to sea, on account 
of the breakers on the bar at Belen's mouth. 

The storm having once more abated, on the 6th of 
February the adelantado takes sixty-eight well-armed 
men, who push the boats up the Veragua in search of 
the reputed gold-mines. About a league and a half 
up the river they come upon the home of the Quibian, 
with the dwellings of his people arranged about him. 
The chieftain comes to meet them. He is surrounded 
by his subjects, but they are all unarmed. All the 
signs and signals are for peace. This on the outside, 
like the bright daubs of paint on his naked body, but 
at heart there are no doubt many misgivings. One of 
his attendants fishes a big stone out of the river, and, 
washing it thoroughly, rolls it up as a throne for his 
chieftain, who deports himself with great respect in 
th-e commanding presence of Don Bartholomew. He 
furnishes the latter with guides to the gold regions of 
the interior, the mines being in the mountains, which 



GOLD I 495 

begin to rise some six leagues distant and reach above 
the clouds. All the way, about the roots of the trees 
and everywhere, the earth sparkles with golden 
grains. The adelantado returns greatly elated. Al- 
ready he sees wealthy Spanish cities in the plains and 
on the hills. " Which seeing, the Quibian grimly 
smiled that they should deem their work already done, 
himself subdued, the land their own, and he smiled to 
think how he had sent them round and away from his 
own rich mines to the poorer and more distant fields 
of Urird, his ancient enemy. Then the adelantado 
explored westward, and came to the town and river of 
this Urira, and to the towns of Dururi, Cobraba, and 
Cotiba, where he obtained gold and provisions."^ 

This delightsome countr}^, laden with the most 
fragrant and luscious fruits, with rich fields of maize 
six leagues in extent, a territory of twenty da3^s' 
journey, so abounding in gold that one had only to 
turn up the stones and pick it up — pick it up in such 
abundance that a man of good-will might easily 
obtain in ten days as much as a bo}^ could carry ! — 
was not this the place above all others to found a 
colony ? Hispaniola was indeed wonderful, but bore 
no comparison to this. If among the natives there 
one occasionally espied a small nose-ornament of gold, 
here nearly every one had a golden mirror hung by a 
cotton cord to his neck. Indeed, he had seen more 
signs of gold here in two days than in Hispaniola in 
four years. Again the Admiral turns to the sacred 
scriptures and to the writings of divines, ancient and 
modern, and is well satisfied that this is the '' Golden 

1 H. H. Bancroft's Hist. Central Am., vol. i, p. 221. 



496 



A COLONY 



Chersonesus." Here lie would found an empire whicli 
should include all these rich gold-mines in the terri- 
tories of the different chiefs in the neighborhood. 
Thus Hispaniola, so disappointing to all and so ill- 
fated from every point of view, would be completely 
eclipsed. The adelantado was of the same mind as 
his brother, and agreed to remain in charge of the 
colony, which should include the greater part of the 
people in the squadron, and through them he would 
develop the gold-mines. The Admiral, meanwhile, 
would return to Spain for reinforcements. 

The plan adopted, everything moved with energy. 
The eighty men who were to remain were divided 
into parties of ten each, and on a pretty rise of ground 
bordering a creek, near the mouth of the Belen, they 
built a picturesque village. The houses could not 
have been large. We simply know that they were 
built of wood and thatched with palm leaves. Aye ! 
one was large, designed as a warehouse and magazine. 
But the main depository was one of the ships, which 
was to remain in the harbor. In this the provisions 
might be most securel}^ stored, and it might serve the 
adelantado in case of an emergency. The store of pro- 
visions was small indeed — a little wine, oil, vinegar, 
biscuit, cheese, etc., but the country around abounded 
in maize, cocoanuts, bananas, pineapples, and various 
kinds of wines and beers. Then there was almost no 
limit to the great variety of fish in these parts ; the 
shoals were so thick along the river-banks sometimes 
that they could be dipped out with little nets, or they 
even leaped out of the water onto the dry land and 
could be picked up. The Admiral would conciliate 



SHUT UP IN THE RIVERS. 



497 



tlie natives by kind words and presents. These would 
then render the infant colony what aid they could. 

" All things were now settled for the Christian col- 
ony," says Fernando Columbus, " and ten or twelve 
houses built and thatched, and the Admiral ready to 
sail for Spain, when he fell into greater danger for 
want of water than he had been before by the inun- 
dation ; for, the great rains of January being over, the 
mouth of the river was so choked up with sand that 
whereas when they came in there was about ten feet 
of water, which was scant enough, when we would 
have gone out there were not two feet, so that we were 
shut up without au}^ help, it being impossible to get 
the ships over the sand ; and though there had been 
such a contrivance, the sea was so boisterous that the least 
wave which beat upon the shore was enough to break 
the ships in pieces, especially ours, which were at this 
time like a honeycomb, being all worm-eaten through 
and through."^ 

Meanwhile, the Quibian of Veragua had no intention 
of allowing himself to be robbed of this rich territory 
by the strangers thus attempting to plant themselves. 
Under the pretence of making war with a neighboring 
enemy, he assembled about a thousand of his painted 
warriors. He had never 3^et smelt gunpowder nor felt 
the keen edge of that product of civilization — steel. 
Blindly he hoped to rout these intruders with a single 
stroke. 

But Diego Mendez, a stout-hearted, sharp-eyed com- 
panion of Columbus in his four voyages, noticed so 
many Indians passing on the way to the Ouibian's 

^ Fernando Columbus, chapter xcvii. 



498 



SPTING OUT THE CAMP. 



headquarters that his suspicions were aroused. The 
very impersonatiou of fidelity to l;is master, he volun- 
teered his service for an investigation. Starting with 
a few comrades for the Indian camp, he met the warrior 
host on their way to the Belen. Springing ashore 
alone from his boat, he began to communicate cor- 
dially with them. They gave him to understand that 
they were going against a neighboring tribe, and he 
offered to go with them and aid in the fight. This 
they declined, and, seeing that they were watched, re- 
turned to Veragua. Diego Mendez reported his sus- 
picions to the Admiral, but he was unwilling to make 
the first attack on the savages and so awaken the bit- 
ter enmities of warfare. 

The bold Mendez will once more spy out the camp 
of these painted warriors, then, taking with him a 
single companion. Rodrigo de Escobar accompanies 
him, and they follow the coast afoot to the Quibian's 
camp. At the mouth of the Veragua they meet two 
canoes from another part, who do not hesitate to say 
that the warriors had been on their way for the de- 
struction of the colony, and had turned back because 
they thought themselves suspected. Very soon they 
would be on their way again with a stronger force. 
Mendez will go to the bottom of the matter. Will not 
these canoes take him to the Quibian's headquarters? 
Oh, no ; this would be sure death ! Mendez insists ; 
he will make them a present. They will go, then, 
wherever he wishes. 

The Indian village was scattered along the river- 
bank, amidst trees and groves, the Quibian's house 
being on the commanding site of a little hill. ^ On every 



A PERILOUS SITUATION. 499 

hand round about, armed warriors frowned on the two 
white men, who passed on fearlessly among them. As 
they were about to climb the hill to the Quibian's house, 
the Indians opposed them. The chieftain had been 
wounded in a recent battle, they said, and could not 
see them. But for that very reason Mendez must see 
him, for he is a surgeon and can cure him. Being a 
surgeon, and handing out a few presents, he may pass. 
Arouud the large space in front of the Quibian's house 
were the trophies of recent warfare — three hundred 
ghastly human heads were impaled on stakes in the 
most orderly manner. All undismayed, the two brave 
whites passed on to the door, when a crowd of gaping 
women and children there assembled shrieked and 
screamed and fled in terror. At this alarm a brawny 
son of the chieftain sallied forth and dealt Mender a 
blow that sent him backward several steps, who, recov- 
ering himself, showed a box of ointment and urged 
his services as a surgeon, all to no purpose. The 
youth was in a rage and pushed him back. Mean- 
while a crowd of enraged Indians were rushing to the 
spot. Mendez jerked out of his pocket a comb and a 
pair of scissors, and giving them to Escobar urged him 
to cut and trim his hair. The superstitious savages 
held their breath at the novel sight. Without loss of 
time, Mendez gave the chiefs son a looking-glass, in 
which he, with great surprise, beheld for the first time 
his own face. Escobar cut and combed his hair also. 
Now Mendez gave comb, brush, and looking-glass to 
the savage, and asked for something to eat and drink. 
The request was granted and all became friends. 
Mendez returned, fully convinced that the Indians 
were on the war-path. 



roo THE ^UIBIAN IS CAPTURED 

This was soon confirmed by a native of the vicinity, 
wlio had become strongly attached to the white men 
and had gained clew to the intentions of his conntry- 
men. The Quibian was planning to bnrn the ships 
and honses at dead of night, massacring all the 
Spaniards. Honses and ships were at once put nnder 
a strong guard, and a council of war was held. There 
was no time to lose. 

With the rapidity of a Napoleon Bonaparte, the 
adelantado has taken his resolution and is on the way 
for carrying it out. He will take seventy-four well- 
armed men, Mendez and the Indian interpreter included, 
and, on the 30th of March, go as rapidly as possible 
to the chieftain's camp. 

The Quibian sees the crowd coming and sends a 
messenger warning them away from the house, more 
from jealousy of his women, however, than from fear 
of war. The adelantado goes on alone, having cau- 
tiously disposed his men. Another messenger meets 
him and requests him not to enter the house. The 
Quibian will come out, sick though he be. They meet 
at the door. The adelantado is very affable and con- 
verses cordially through his trembling interpreter. 
They talk about this fine country. But that wound ! — 
the adelantado will examine it — so softly — strokes it 
gently. Now the chieftain is completely off his guard. 
This stranger, all alone, is so friendly ; and he has 
full fifty people in his house and many hundreds just 
outside. Don Bartholomew tightens his grasp, and 
his faithful Mendez, on the sharp lookout, fires his 
arquebus, while four Spaniards near by rush forward. 
The Quibian, somewhat weakened by his wound, strug- 



AND CONSIGNED TO SANCHEZ. qoi 

gles in the tremendous grasp of the adelantado. But 
all the Spaniards are upon him. He and his house- 
hold — some fifty persons, big and small — are all bound 
and hurried off without shedding a drop of blood. 

But hear those poor savages ! They rend the air 
with their lamentations, for their hearts are breaking 
at seeing their chief a captive. They plead for his 
release, offering for his ransom an immense treasure 
which the}^ say is in the woods near by. But the 
adelantado is inexorable. This dangerous chieftain 
and his household must be held as hostages for the 
peaceable behavior of the rest. They are sent to the 
ships for safe-keeping, while the adelantado and the 
main body of his force are to scour the surrounding 
countr}^ for those who have escaped. 

Who shall take charge of this redoubtable chieftain 
and conduct him to the ships this dark night ? Juan 
Sanchez, chief pilot of the squadron, an honest, brave 
sailor, volunteers his services. The Quibian is bound 
tightly hand and foot and fastened firmly to the seat 
of the boat. " Look well to your charges," urges the 
adelantado. " Pluck out my beard hair by hair if I 
let him escape," replied Sanchez as he pushed off his 
boat from the bank. Every muscle of the Quibian's 
face is calm, but a fierce fire burns within. He and 
his household are captives — made so in the twinkling 
of an e3''e ! What next ? The river runs fast — so does 
time. Juan Sanchez's honest face beams self-com- 
placently, kindly, in the light of the torch. The 
shrewd savage makes an appeal. These cords are so 
tight — hurt badl}^ ! Sanchez rows on. But by the 
time they approach the mouth of the river his heart is 



^02 THE ^ UIBIAN ESC A PES. 

touched, for, beneath the rough surface, the sailor 
has a tender spot. He loosens the cords, unties the 
captive from the bench, and holds the rope's end in his 
firm grasp. The Quibian seems cool and motionless 
and emotionless as a statue, but his eyes are on the 
pilot. Sanchez turns his eyes away and hears some- 
thing like a rock splash in the water — the boat tips 
and he is well-nigh precipitated into the river ! The 
rope is out of his hand and the Indian is gone. Look 
out ! Others of the captives may follow. In the 
darkness and bustle, they have all they can do to keep 
guard over the rest. In the inky river the Quibian, 
shackles and all, has made good his escape. Juan 
Sanchez may make his report to the Admiral and pull 
out his beard ! 

"The next day," says Fernando, "the lieutenant 
perceiving the country was very mountainous and 
woody, and that there were no regular towns, but one 
house here and another at a great distance, and that 
it would be very difficult to pursue the Indians from 
place to place, he resolved to return to the ships with 
his men, not one of them being either killed or 
wounded. He presented the Admiral with the plunder 
of Quibian's house, worth about 300 ducats in gold 
plates, little eagles, and small quills which they string 
and wear about their arms and legs, and in gold twists 
which they put about their head in the nature of a 
coronet. All which things, deducting only the fifth 
part for their Catholic Majesties, he divided among 
those that went upon the expedition; and to the 
lieutenant, in token of victory, was given one of those 
crowns or coronets above mentioned." 



THE SPANIARDS ARE SURPRISED. 503 

Columbus now flattered himself that the colony 
might be left in security. The Ouibian had indeed 
escaped ; but how could he, with hands and feet tied, 
have ever reached the shore ? And even if he were 
living, would not the detention of his family on the 
ships compel him to keep the peace ? But this savage 
chieftain, having reached the shore in safety, was a 
genuine hero, who instead of being subdued by what 
he had suffered was only thereby rendered the more 
determined and fierce. Gathering a great number of 
his warriors, they stole upon the frail cabins of the 
little colony, under cover of the dense forest and 
with the noiseless step of the Indian on a still hunt. 
The Spaniards, thinking their enemies subdued, were 
completely off their guard. Some were in their cabins, 
some in the Gallego in the harbor, and the greater 
number were on the beach gazing wistfully after the 
Admiral's ships, about to depart. Startled almost out 
of their wits by the wild and deafening j^-ells sent up 
by the infuriated savages as they broke from the forest 
directly upon them, there was no protection to the 
little cabins covered with palm-leaves. The dense 
shower of arrows riddled them completely and wounded 
those within. The Spaniards rushed for their arms. 
The adelantado and some seven of his comrades seized 
their lances and targets, and calling on the rest to 
follow rushed upon the Indians as they emerged from 
the woods. In all there were about twenty to bear up 
under the shock ; but their shields protected them, 
while the naked bodies of the savages were exposed 
not only to the sword and the lance, but to the fangs 
of an infuriated bloodhound. The Indians fell back 



504 



DIEGO TRISTAN. 



into the forest, sending showers of arrows from behind 
the trees, and ever and anon rushing out into close 
conflict with their wooden lances. After three hours 
of this warfare, amidst deafening yells, and in \vhich 
all the Spaniards on the spot fought desperatel}^, they 
had one killed and seven wounded, among which latter 
was the adelantado, who was pierced in the breast by a 
lance. The savages fled to the forest, leaving quite a 
number dead on the field. 

Diego Tristan, one of the Admiral's captains, 
arrived with a boat during the conflict, having been 
sent up the river for a supply of fresh water. He 
looked on, but took no part in the fight, saying that 
if he should approach the shore the terrified Spaniards 
might rush in and swamp his boat. The skirmish 
over, he proceeded up the river amidst the lurking 
Indians. When warned of his danger, he replied that 
he should perform the duty for which he had been 
sent. 

The deep river was walled up on both sides by a 
forest so dense that it was about impossible to land, 
except where the path of the fisherman came out, or 
the constant hauling up of the canoes had made an 
opening. When the boat had advanced about a league 
above the settlement, to where the river was narrow 
and full and the tall spreading trees on each bank 
formed a magnificent arcade, the Spaniards were sud- 
denly surprised by the terrific yells and horrid couch- 
blasts of the savages, who burst upon them in every 
direction. From the shadowy nooks and from under 
the overhanging bows numberless canoes darted forth, 
each moved by a single paddle, while several warriors 



TRISTAN IS SIAIN. ^05 

standing in lit shot arrows and hnrled lances. All 
this must be met by eight sailors and three soldiers, 
who, completely terrified by the deafening noise and 
overwhelmed by numbers, lost all presence of mind, 
and, dropping both oars and firearms, simply tried to 
cover themselves with their shields. Tristan fought 
bravely, notwithstanding a number of wounds received, 
and was doing his utmost to animate his men when a 
swift Indian javelin pierced his right eye and he expired. 
The canoes closed in upon the boat and massacred the 
Spaniards to a man. Juan de Noya, who had been 
knocked overboard during the conflict, swam under 
water, landed under the overhanging thicket, and 
reached the Spanish encampment, to terrif}^ them with 
an account of the sickening scene. 

The intelligence created a complete panic. How 
could their reduced numbers withstand these fierce 
hordes ? If the Admiral should sail away without 
them, they would either starve to death — for the}^ dared 
not venture out for food — or they would be massacred 
by infuriated savages. The}^ v/ould at once board the 
caravel in the harbor and escape. The adelantado 
remonstrated, but in vain ; they would abandon the 
place. 

But the escape was not so easy as thej^ imagined. 
The swollen river having subsided, the surf had again 
banked up the sand at the mouth and rendered the bar 
impassable. They attempted to go out to the Ad- 
miral in a boat, but were prevented by the wind and 
the breakers. Thus shut in to the merc}^ of the 
savages, they were still further horrified by the disfig- 
ured corpses of Tristan and his men floating down 



5o6 



AN APALLING SITUATION. 



Stream amidst hungry fishes, and stranding on the 
beach as food for vultures. Did not this portend their 
own fate but near at hand ? Meanwhile the natives 
had grown jubilant over their successes. Their horrid 
yells and the thunder of their conchs and wooden drums 
made the thick forests frightful in every direction. 
Abandoning the settlement, the adelantado raised a 
bulwark around an open place on the bank of the 
river. Here, sheltered by chests, casks, and the boat 
of the caravel, they plied two small cannon through 
openings in the barricade, and thus kept the savages 
at a safe distance. But what could they do when their 
ammunition became exhausted? 

On board the Admiral's ships matters were scarcely 
less appalling. Ten days had passed since Tristan 
left. Why did he not return ? What if their ships' 
cables should part in this rough sea ? Those clumsy 
caravels would surely be swamped. Then those 
Indians ! — the Quibian's family, confined in the hold 
of the Admiral's ship — they seemed to be enthused 
with the spirit of the chief himself. One night while 
the guards were sleeping on the hatch — it being so 
high up that it was not thought necessary to chain it 
down — they collected boxes, casks, and the stones 
used for ballast, and, piling them up, mounted them, 
and with one tremendous lift shoulder to shoulder in 
concert they tossed the sleeping guard hither and 
thither, and springing out and into the sea they made 
their escape. Those kept back and chained down 
under the hatch were found dead the next morning. 
Some had hung themselves from the roof of their 
dungeon, and those who could not secure this conven- 



THE FEAT OF LEDESMA. ^qj 

ience strangled tTiemselves by fastening one end of the 
cord to the foot. 

Communication with those on the shore was now 
absolutely necessary, Colonization at present was not 
to be thought of. When the natives should learn the 
fate of this royal family, " they would move the very 
rocks to revenge." But what boat might pass that 
raging surf? Now Pedro Ledesma, a pilot from Seville, 
steps forward and offers to swim through it if some one 
will row him up to the breakers. If those savages 
could swim a league to save their lives, he might pass 
through the surf for the relief of so many companions. 
The perilous feat was accomplished. Ledesma crawled 
up the beach from the merciless waves to listen 
to the shocking fate of Tristan, and the determi- 
nation of the colou}^ to leave the place. The}?- were 
simply desperate. They were bus}^ digging out canoes 
to carry them to the ships outside the bar as soon as the 
storm should abate. Ledesma must importune the Ad- 
miral for them that he might not sail away and leave 
them on this savage coast. Should he refuse to take 
them they would drag the caravel across the bar when 
the storm was over, and take their chances at sea for 
Spain. 

Again Ledesma braved the breakers, and entering the 
boat in waiting for him bore to the Admiral the sad 
tidings of the colony. Throughout this entire voyage 
the Admiral had been simply a suffering invalid. This 
seemed the crisis of his hopes. He had been unjustly 
deprived of his authority at Hispaniola. Now he had 
hoped to reinstate himself in a still better countr}^ 
Must he fail again ? But he could not leave his brother 



5o8 



THE ADMIRAL'S VISION. 



in a mutiuous colony, among savages. He would gladly 
have remained himself, but who then might convey the 
intelligence of this important discovery to the sov- 
ereigns ? For the present his enterprise of coloniza- 
tion must be abandoned, but by and b}'^ it might be 
undertaken, perhaps. 

Meanwhile his worm-eaten ships, on a lee shore, in a 
storm, were in imminent peril. A small addition of force 
to the present storm might drive them into the breakers. 
What wonder if, in these days of constant worr}^ of 
mind and nights of sleepless anxiet}^, this aged spirit, 
broken by hardships, disappointments, and outrage, 
should fall into delirium — happily a religious delirium ! 
He says : " At length, groaning with exhaustion, I fell 
asleep and heard a compassionate voice address me 
thus : ' O fool, and slow to believe and serve thy God, 
the God of all ; w^hat did He do more for Moses, or for 
David, his servant, than He has done for thee? From 
thine infancy He has kept thee under His constant and 
watchful care. When He saw thee arrived at an age 
which suited His designs respecting thee, He brought 
wonderful renown to thy name throughout all the land. 
He gave thee for thine own the Indies, which form so 
rich a portion of the world, and thou hast divided them 
as it pleased thee, for He gave thee power to do so. He 
gave thee the keys of those barriers of the ocean-sea 
which were closed with such might}' chains, and thou 
wast obeyed through many lands and gained an honor- 
able fame throughout Christendom. What more did the 
Most High do for the people of Israel when He brought 
them out of Bgypt ; or for David, whom, a shepherd. He 
made to be a King in Judea ? Turn to Him and ac- 



THE ADMIRAL'S VISION. ^qq 

knowledge thine error — His mercy is infinite. Thine 
old age shall not prevent thee from accomplishing any 
great undertaking. He holds under His sway the 
greatest possessions. Abraham had exceeded a hundred 
years of age when he begat Isaac ; nor was Sarah 
young. Thou criest out for uncertain help ; answer, who 
has afflicted thee so much and so often, God or the 
world ? The privileges promised by God He never 
fails in bestowing ; nor does He ever declare, after a 
service has been rendered Him, that such was not 
agreeable with Kis intention, or that He had regarded 
the matter in another light ; nor does He inflict suffer- 
ing in order to give effect to the manifestation of His 
powder. His acts answer to His words, and it is His 
custom to perform all His promises with interest. Thus 
I have told you what the Creator has done for thee, and 
what He does for all men. Even now He partially 
shows thee the reward of so many toils and dangers in- 
curred by thee in the service of others.' 

" I heard all of this as it were in a trance ; but I had 
no answer to give in definite words, and could but weep 
for my errors. He \vho spoke to me, whoever it was, 
concluded by saying : ' Fear not, trust ; all these tribu- 
lations are recorded on marble, and not without cause.' " 

Critics and scoffers have exercised themselves greatly 
at the expense of this " vision " of Columbus. The 
more credulous have seen in it a divine disclosure. To 
us it seems exceedingly natural that this devout man, 
broken down with age and extreme hardships, tortured 
with physical sufferings and borne down with anxiety, 
should fall into just this sort of reverie. The order of 
thought is simply a reflex of the facts of his life in the 



^lO THE COLONY IS BROKEN UP. 

liglit of a true Cbristian faitli slightly tinged witli tlie 
superstitions of the time. If it were a dream, it was 
most natural, and according to the credulousness of the 
time might easily be mistaken for a vision. If it were 
a divine disclosure, it would readily fall into line with 
other widely accepted facts on the divine side of human 
history. In the final elucidation of all things, stranger 
facts may be discovered than that Columbus was chosen 
of God for a special purpose ; that he was providentially 
fitted and divinely inspired for the main points of his 
great achievement. 

It had now become clear to all that the maintenance 
of the colony was impossible. As soon as the protracted 
storm subsided a vigorous effort gathered all together 
for the homeward voyage. As the caravel Gallcgo 
could not be brought out from the river, she was emptied 
and dismantled. This work was put in charge of the 
energetic Diego Mendez. Out of the sails of the caravel 
he made sacks for carrying the biscuit ; the spars were 
lashed across two large canoes, and on these a platform 
was laid, thus making a safe raft. On this was placed 
provisions, arms, ammunition, the furniture of the car- 
avel, etc., which was then towed out to the ships by 
means of row-boats. The wine, oil, and vinegar casks 
were thrown into the water and drawn after by means 
of ropes. As all were anxious to get away from this 
dangerous coast, every one worked with a will, and in 
two days, by means of seven trips, everything had been 
transported to the ships awaiting the return. The mere 
hull of the Gallego^ thoroughly riddled by the teredo, 
remained in the river. The faithful Mendez, having 
worked day and night, was the last to leave the shore. 



THE SHIPS LEA VE. 



511 



No language could portray the delight of these 
sailors on once more finding themselves all together 
and on board the ships for home. Gladly would they 
meet the perils of the sea on their homeward voyage 
if they might thus put the ocean between them and that 
land of death. In recognition of the faithful services 
of Diego Mendez in getting to sea, Columbus gave him 
charge of the ship vacated by the death of Diego 
Tristan. 

The squadron sailed from Veragua in the last daj^s 
of April. The worm-eaten, weather-worn ships, the 
weary, enervated crews, and the scanty supply of 
provisions forbade their course to Spain. They must 
find their haven in Hispaniola. But why did the Ad- 
miral go coasting along to the eastward ? Why did 
he not strike out due north to the point in view ? 
Surely he must be sailing directly for Spain. So 
thought the piolots ; and the}^ were much annoyed at 
such presumption, with almost nothing in the larder, 
and the water almost pouring in through worm-holes 
nearly the bigness of a finger. But the Admiral 
and his lieutenant were too well versed in the 
knowledge of these seas to start directly north, and be 
carried far west out of their course by the current setting 
in so firmly from the east. Then, why should the 
former give the results of his work awa}- ? Behold 
how many were ready waiting to follow in the wake 
of his discoveries, and gather the results and profits 
of his toils and sufferings ! Let the route be as 
obscure as possible. So he even took the charts from 
his sailors. 

At Puerto Bello he was obliged to abandon one of 



^12 THEi SAIL FOR HISPANIOLA. 

his ships, the Biscaina, as she could no longer be kept 
afloat, and the other two were so worm-eaten that it 
was all the men could do to pump and bail the water 
out as fast as it came in. Still the ships stood to the 
east, past Port Retrete, the Mulatos, and Point Bios 
to the Gulf of Darien. This large sheet of water 
making in beyond the horizon was so suggestive of 
the much-sought-for '''' straW'' that the Admiral was 
strongly tempted to continue in search of it ; but on 
holding a council with his oflicers he found their 
opposition on account of the condition of the ships 
and the supplies so forcible that he turned the prows 
northward for Hispaniola. This was May ist, and 
they were ten leagues farther east than they had been 
before. 

Not only the currents but also the winds were 
strong from the east, and the Admiral bore up close 
to the wind. This annoyed his men, who declared 
they were running to the east of the Caribbees, but 
he doubted if they would even reach Hispaniola, which 
fear proved to be true, for on the loth he approached 
the Cayman Islands, west of Jamaica. Passing by the 
tortoises which fairly swarmed and looked like little 
rocks in these parts, the ships reached the Queen's 
Gardens, south of Cuba, May 30th. Here they cast 
anchor some ten leagues from the main island. The 
crews were fairly exhausted, and the provisions reduced 
to a few biscuit and a little oil and vinegar — poor diet 
for men laboring incessantly at the pumps. A fear- 
ful tempest arose ; three anchors were lost. The bow 
of the Bermuda was driven fiercely into the stern of 
the Admiral's ship, which now had but one anchor. 



THE SHIPS ARE STRANDED. 513 

At daylight the cable was nearly parted. One hour 
more of darkness and he would have been driven 
onto the rocks. 

The storm having lasted nearly a week, Columbus 
weighed anchor for Hispaniola, his " people dismayed 
and downhearted, almost all his anchors lost, and his 
vessels bored as full of holes as a honeycomb." 
Laboring against wind and current, he finally reached 
Cape Cruz. 

Having obtained cassava-bread from the Indians, 
and waited on the wind a few days, he tried again to 
buffet the winds and currents to Hispaniola, but all 
in vain. The scene is most disheartening. The ill- 
fed and worn-out sailors ply the pumps and bail with 
buckets and kettles, but still the water gains on them. 
Even the Admiral gives up and makes for the north 
side of Jamaica, for the vessels are in danger of sink- 
ing even before they reach that shore. On the 24th 
of June they run the ships aground, side by side, 
about a "bow-shot" from the land. Here they shore 
them up and build pavilions on the decks, for the 
holds of the vessels are almost filled with water. 
Everything is put in the best possible state of defence, 
and the men are not allowed to go ashore lest they 
should commit some outrage against the natives, and 
so prevent commerce or bring on an attack. Two 
persons are appointed to carry on the trade, and a 
careful distribution of supplies is made every evening. 

The Indians soon swarmed about the harbor, and 
were quite inclined to trade. Fernando says they 
" sold two utias^ which are little creatures like rabbits, 
for a bit of tin, and cakes of bread they call zabi for 



514 A PERPLEXING SITUATION. 

two or tliree red or yellow glass beads ; and when they 
brought a quantity of anything, they had a hawk's 
bell, and sometimes we gave a cacique or great man 
a little looking-glass or red cap or a pair of scissors 
to please them. This good order kept the men plenti- 
fully supplied with provisions, and the Indians were 
well pleased with our company." 

Still the provisions were often inadequate, and as 
the Indians kept no great supply on hand the colony 
might at any time be reduced to want. It was evident 
something must be done to communicate with His- 
paniola. Should they try to build a ship for that 
purpose ? Alas ! they had neither tools nor workmen 
to construct anything which might stem the head- 
winds and the currents. Was there anj^ hope that 
some ship might pass that way ? Scarcely. After 
many councils held by the Admiral with his men, 
there was but one plan to be commended — that some 
one should go to Hispaniola in a canoe. 

Diego Mendez went on an excursion through a 
great part of the island, purchased and shipped pro- 
visions for the crews, and had cultivated such friend- 
ships with the different caciques that they had agreed 
to trade regularly with an agent sent out by the 
Admiral. With knives, combs, beads, hawk's bells, 
and fish-hooks he might purchase utias, fish, and 
cassava-bread. Having sent back his men one by one 
loaded with provisions, he continued on with two 
Indians, one to carry his provisions and the other his 
hammock, till he came to the eastern extremity of the 
island. Here the cacique, one of the most powerful 
in Jamaica, was completely won by the spirited 



DIE G O MENDEZ IS INTER VIE WED. 515 

address and taking manners of Mendez, and became 
so friendly as to exchange names in token of brother- 
hood. The cacique was readil}?- pledged to furnish 
provisions for the ships, and for a brass helmet, a 
shirt, and a short frock sold Mendez an excellent 
canoe, which forthwith came back laden with pro- 
visions. Loud were the acclamations of his comrades 
on his return, and the Admiral embraced him most 
cordially. The Spaniards had been literally fasting. 
" There was not a loaf left in the ships," says Mendez. 
Henceforth provisions came regularly. 

"Ten days after this," says Mendez, " the Admiral 
called me aside and spoke to me of the great peril he 
was in, addressing me as follows : ' Diego Mendez, my 
son, not one of those whom I have here with me has 
any idea of the great danger in which we stand, except 
m^^self and you, for we are but few in number, and 
these wild Indians are numerous and very fickle and 
capricious, and whenever they may take it in their 
heads to come and burn us in our two ships, w^hich 
we have made into straw-thatched cabins, they may 
easily do so by setting fire to them on the land side, 
and so destroy us all. The arrangements which you 
have made with them for the supply of food, to which 
they agreed with such good-will, may soon prove dis- 
agreeable to them, and it would not be surprising if, 
on the morrow, they were not to bring us anything at 
all ; in such case we are not in a position to take it by 
main force, but shall be compelled to accede to their 
terms. I have thought of a remedy, if you consider 
it advisable, which is that some one should go out 
in the canoe that you have purchased, and make his 



^ 1 5 HIS NOBL E A NS WER. 

way in it to Espaiiola, to purchase a vessel with 
which we may escape from the extremely dangerous 
position in which we now are. Tell me your opinion.' 
To which I answered : ' My lord, I distinctly see the 
danger in which we stand, which is much greater than 
would be readily imagined. With respect to the 
passage from this island to Espanola in so small a 
vessel as a canoe, I look upon it not merely as 
difficult, but impossible, for I know not who yn^ouM 
venture to encounter so terrific a danger as to cross a 
gulf of forty leagues of sea, and amongst islands 
where the sea is most impetuous and scarcely ever at 
rest.' 

" His lordship did not agree with the opinion that 
I expressed, but adduced strong arguments to show 
that I was the person to undertake the enterprise. 
To which I replied : ' My lord, I have many times 
put my life in danger to save yours and the lives of 
all those who are with you, and God has marvellously 
preserved me ; in consequence of this, there have not 
been wanting murmurers who have said that your 
lordship entrusts every honorable undertaking to me, 
while there are others amongst them who would per- 
form them as well as I. My opinion is, therefore, that 
your lordship would do well to summon all the men, 
and lay this business before them, to see if, amongst 
them all, there is one who will volunteer to take it, 
which I certainly doubt, and if all refuse I will risk 
my life in your service, as I have done many times 
already.' 

" On the following day his lordship caused all the 
men to appear together before him, and then opened 



HIS PREPARATION. 517 

tlie matter to them in tlie same manner as lie had 
done to me. When they heard it they were all silent, 
nntil some said that it was out of the question to 
speak of such a thing, for it was impossible, in so 
small a craft, to cross a boisterous and perilous gulf 
of forty leagues breadth, and to pass between those 
.two islands, where very strong vessels had been lost 
in going to make discoveries, not being able to 
encounter the force and fury of the currents. I then 
arose and said : ' M}'- lord, I have but one life, and I 
am willing to hazard it in the service of 3^our lordship 
and for the welfare of all those who are here with us ; 
for I trust in God that, in consideration of the motive 
which actuates me, He will give me deliverance, as He 
has already done on many other occasions.' When 
the Admiral heard my determination he arose and 
embraced me, and, kissing me on the cheek, said : 
' Well did I know that there was no one here but 
3^ourself who would dare to undertake this enterprise ; 
I trust in God, our Lord, that you will come out of it 
victorious!}^, as you have done in the others which 
you have undertaken.' 

" On the following day I drew my canoe onto the 
shore, fixed a false keel on it, and pitched and greased 
it. I then nailed some boards upon the poop and 
prow to prevent the sea from coming in, as it was 
liable to do from the lowness of the gunwales ; I also 
fixed a mast in it, set up a sail, and laid in the neces- 
sary provisions for m3^self, one Spaniard, and six 
Indians, making eight in all, which was as many as 
the canoe would hold. I then bade farewell to his 
lordship and all others, and proceeded along the 



5i8 



HIS CAPTURE. 



coast of Jamaica, up to the extremity of tlie island, 
which was thirty-five leagues from the point whence 
we started." 

Here they went ashore, and, waiting for the sea to be- 
come smooth, were wandering about rather uncircum- 
spectly, when a crowd of savages falling upon them 
took them prisoners and hurried them away into the« 
woods. Here it was decided to put the Spaniards to 
death, but a quarrel having sprung up respecting a 
division of the spoils, while the question was being 
settled by some game of chance, Mendez got into his 
canoe and made his escape. Aided by the rapid cur- 
rent, he was back again in the presence of the Ad- 
miral just fifteen days after leaving. 

Nothing daunted, he was ready to start again, pro- 
vided a sufficient guard of men might accompany him 
to the extremity of the island and protect him till he 
could get away. The number in this adventure was 
now doubled. In addition to the six Spaniards and 
ten Indians in the canoe commanded by Mendez', 
another canoe manned in like manner was assigned 
to Bartholomew Fiesco, a brave Genoese, who had com- 
manded the Biscaina. When these brave men reached 
Hispaniola, Fiesco was to return to Jamaica with 
intelligence of their safe arrival, while Mendez was to 
proceed to Spain bearing the Admiral's messages to 
the sovereigns. 

Very cheerfully, indeed, did the little company 
embark, the Indians laying in their frugal supply of 
cassava-bread, roots, and calabashes filled with water. 
To this simple fare the Spaniards added some meat of 
the utia, and took their swords and bucklers. The 



HIS A D VENTURE. ^ I g 

adelantado went along the shore with seventy well- 
armed men. Three days they waited at the eastern 
end of the island for the sea to become calm. After 
they had launched, the adelantado waited till night, 
and watched the canoes till they disappeared in the 
horizon. Frail barks, these, for such a sea ! When 
the}^ were loaded they were not a span above the 
water.^ Awkward white men, dressed and in armor, 
might well dread them in a storm ; but the naked 
Indians were so like fishes in the water that thej^ 
could easily right a capsized canoe, bail it out with 
their calabashes, and go on as if nothing had hap- 
pened. 

The first day at sea there was neither wind nor 
cloud, but the burning rays of the sun reflected by the 
water were well-nigh insufferable. Every now and 
then the Indians would jump into the water, and, 
swimming abreast of the canoes, would cool and 
refresh themselves. Then the Spaniards would 
encourage them to row as fast as they could. The 
Indian had a deft hand at the paddle. All day long 
the canoes had fairly skipped over the water. At 
night there was simpl}^ sky and water in sight. The 
crews were divided into watches ; one-half slept while 
the other half worked, the Indians at the paddles and 
the white men keeping guard with weapon in hand. 

The temperature did not fall much with the dark- 
ness. All night long it was sultry and oppressive, so 
that the morning found the crews greatly exhausted. 
The captains now gave a rest and refreshments, and 
encouraged the Indians by trying their own hands at 

^ Fernando Columbus, chapter ci. 



520 



SUJ^I^ERING OF THE AD VENTURERS. 



the paddles. But the Indians had brought on a 
calamity. In the labor and heat of the day before, 
they had drank up all their water, so that there was 
now not a drop to moisten their parched lips. By noon 
they were completely exhausted. Now the captains 
discovered two small kegs of water which they seem 
to have reserved for such emergency. Mouthful by 
mouthful the precious draughts are administered, 
especially to the suffering, toiling Indians. These 
were, moreover, encouraged by the assurance that they 
would soon reach the little island Navasa, which lay 
directly in their course, eight leagues this side of 
Hispaniola. Slowly and wearily the day passed away, 
and when the sun sank into the ocean there was still 
no sight of land, nor yet so much as a cloud in the 
horizon to delude them. According to the reckoning 
kept by the captains, the island should now have been 
in sight. Could it be that they were out of their 
course and might even miss Hispaniola? As the 
night closed about them they despaired of touching at 
Navasa. An island so small and low could only be 
met by chance in the darkness. And the gloom 
thickened when one of the suffering and exhausted 
Indians died and was dropped into the sea. Others, 
faint and gasping, lay stretched out on the canoe- 
bottoms, and those who continued their toiling were 
so consumed by thirst that they would even sip the 
brine from the sea. 

Finally, the last drop had been drained from the 
casks. The night was far advanced, but even those 
whose turn entitled them to rest could not sleep for 
anxiety and thirst. One by one the paddles ceased. 



THE MOON AND NA VASA. 



521 



All had given up in despair of reaching Hispaniola. 
Mendez stood watching the horizon, in which the com- 
ing moon glimmered faintly. As the silver edge 
emerged it defined a small rocky landscape. " Land !" 
he cried, and the sound brought life to every heart. 
There was Navasa ! — but such a mere bit of land-line 
against the sky that, had it not been on the bright 
face of the moon, no eye could have detected it. The 
weariness of the rowers and the strength of the cur- 
rent had thrown the captains off their reckoning. 

Hope brought new strength to every muscle. Again 
the canoes are pushed against the current, and in the 
gray dawn the crews leap on shore and give thanks to 
God. They hurry about over the island, about a mile 
and a half in circuit. There is not a tree, nor a bush, 
nor even a bit of grass. All is rock, unbroken b}^ stream 
or spring. But in the hollows of the rock is an abun- 
dance of rain-water, partially cooled by the night. Dip- 
ping it up with tlieir calabashes, they drank to their 
peril. The Spaniards restrain themselves with some- 
thing of reason, but the poor famished Indians simply 
abandon themselves to the momentary relief, some of 
them dying on the spot and others falling painfully ill. 

Oviedo says that not far from this island there 
gushes up in the midst of the sea a fountain of pure, 
fresh water, so copious as to sweeten the surface all 
around. But the poor famished boatmen knew it not. 

Their thirst assuaged, they look for food. Along the 
shore-line, among the weeds, they find some shell-fish 
thrown up by the tide. Kindling a fire with the drift- 
wood picked up here and there, they roast and eat them 
with the keen relish of fatigue and hunger. Then they 



522 FAITHFULNESS OF MENDEZ. 

rest on the rocks and feast their eyes on the beatific 
vision of Hispaniola, its purple mountains and exu- 
berant reaches of landscape stretching along the horizon, 
eight leagues away. 

In the cool of the evening they again commit them- 
selves to the sea and reach the western end of Hispan- 
iola the next day, the fourth since leaving Jamaica. 
Here, on the banks of the beautiful river and abun- 
dantly refreshed by the kindly natives, they rest and 
recuperate for two days. The faithful Fiesco would 
have returned at once to Jamaica, according to the Ad- 
miral's directions, but both Spaniards and natives were 
so horrified by the toils and sufferings of the passage 
that they could not be induced to accompan3^ him. 
Mendez, though suffering from a fever, taking six 
Indians, set out in his canoe for San Domingo, a dis- 
tance of one hundred and thirty leagues. 

Having toiled against the currents for eighty leagues, 
he learned that Ovando, the governor, was in Xaragua, 
fifty miles in the interior. Abandoning his canoe and 
going alone on foot through forests and over mountains, 
he arrived at Xaragua, " achieving one of the most 
perilous expeditions," says Irving, " ever undertaken 
by a devoted follower for the safety of his commander." 

Now that such an herculean effort has been made to 
bring the tidings of the disaster of the iVdmiral at Ja- 
maica to the governor's ears, what is the result ? 
Surely he will move heaven and earth to bring relief to 
the acute sufferings and imminent perils of one who 
has been rendering the most important services to his 
nation and to the world. Certainly, Ovando professes 
great concern at the sad plight of Columbus, and makes 



CRUEL SCHEME OF OVANDO. 



523 



all sorts of promises of sending immediate relief, but 
the days, the weeks, and the months pass, and nothing 
whatever in the way of relief is attempted. Mendez 
gives us to understand that the governor was at this 
very .time busying himself with slaughtering the beau- 
tiful and hospitable natives of Xaragua — massacring 
chiefs, people, men, women, and children, in the most 
indiscriminate manner. 

Of the debauched classes of Spanish grandees — to 
a great extent associates of Roldan in his rebellion — 
who had settled in that lovely part of the island, and 
taxed the natives to till their soil and carry them on their 
backs, some had told Ovando that a rebellion was being 
concocted by Anacaona and her caciques. No proofs of 
the said rebellion ever became tangible, but the gov- 
ernor was completely taken by the insinuations, and 
forthwith set himself to cure it in the most summary 
manner. With three hundred foot-soldiers, bearing 
swords, cross-bows, and arquebuses, and seventy horse- 
men, well protected b}^ cuirass, lance, and buckler, he is 
going into Xaragua. Strangely enough, he is thus 
going to visit the Queen Anacaona, who since the death 
of her brother, Behechio, has been recognized as ruler 
over the natives in this lovely province. Meanwhile he 
will adjust the tribute in these parts. Anacaona, not- 
withstanding all she has suffered from these intruding 
white men, will still make the most of them. Having 
notified all her subordinate chiefs and principal subjects 
to assemble, she goes out to meet Ovando and his army. 

It is a truly spirited and beautiful procession, accord- 
ing to the custom of showing homage by this generous 
people. Here are not only scores of chiefs and strong 



^24 ^ UNDA r A MUSE ME NTS. 

and handsome men generally, but beautiful women and 
maidens, moving in the most spirited and graceful man- 
ner, as they sing their areytos, or national ballads. 
The maidens are waving their palm branches and 
dancing as charmingly as when the}^ first met the 
Spaniards led by Don Bartholomew. 

When the procession enters Anacaona's town, she 
assigns the governor her largest house, and comfort- 
ably quarters his men in other houses around him. 
For da3^s they are feasted on all the good things of 
the province. The games, the songs, and the dances 
go on for their amusement. Surely there is nothing 
like rebellion in all this, nor have historians ever 
discovered any evidences of it. But unprincipled, 
would-be informants are still credited, and without 
any proper investigation Ovando proceeds upon the 
worst possible suppositions, and that in the most 
treacherous manner conceivable. He will now take 
his turn and amuse and entertain these natives, who 
have fairl}^ outdone themselves for his pleasure. 
What could be more fitting for this purpose than that 
chivalrous joust with reeds, learned from the Moors of 
Granada by the Spaniards ? One Sunday afternoon, 
on the public square and in front of the house 
assigned Ovando in this Indian town, the Spanish 
cavalrymen assemble. They are remarkable for their 
skilful manoeuvres and the ga}^ trappings of their 
fine horses. Aye, there is one steed which can so 
prance and curvet as to literally" keep time to the 
viol ! But these horsemen have also other weapons, 
sharper than reeds, and the footmen, ostensibly mere 
spectators, are also to be well armed, and all must act 
at a concerted signal. 



> t 



THE DBA DLT SIGNAL. 525 

The hour appointed arrives, and the square is 
crowded with natives on tiptoe curiosity to see the 
games. The caciques are crowded into Ovando's 
house, which overlooks the square. Unsuspecting 
innocents ! Not one of them is armed. Not one has an 
evil thought. Ovando, who will appear as harmless 
as a little child, is playing with some of his principal 
of&cers at quoits. 

The cavalr}^ is prancing on the square. Everything 
is waiting. The caciques beg the governor to begin 
the games. Anacaona, too, and her beautiful daughter 
and beautiful female attendants, all join in the 
request. Ovando v/ill be obliging, leaves his game 
and comes forward to a conspicuous place and gives 
the deadly signal — took hold of a piece of gold hang- 
ing from his neck, some say ; or, as others say, laid 
his hand on the Alcantaron cross embroidered on his 
fine clothes. The trumpet sounds. The soldiers 
under regular command, at once surround the house 
in which are Anacaona and the chiefs. These latter 
are all tied to the posts supporting the roof, ^vhile the 
queen is led out a prisoner. Hark ! the caciques are 
shrieking under the most terrible tortures ! At the 
very extremity of anguish, they are betrayed into a 
false accusation of the queen and of themselves as to 
the supposed plot. 

This is enough. No regular examination is needed. 
A torch is put to the inflammable structure, and the 
cries of the unhappy chiefs rise above the raging 
flames. Meanwhile, a most shocking massacre is 
going on among the people. The horsemen are 
rushing through the crowds of shrieking men, women, 



526 



THE SLAUGHTER. 



and children — defenceless and naked. Swords are 
hacking and cutting right and left, the spears are 
transfixing the strong, the infirm, and the little 
innocent, while steel-clad hoofs trample down indis- 
criminately. If perchance a Spaniard, more humane 
than the rest, catch up a little innocent, which appeals 
to his heart, and is about to bear it away, some one 
more demoniacal thrusts a lance through it. 

Turning pale with dismay at such butchering, we 
should refuse credence if we were not compelled to ac- 
cept the testimony of such a venerable personage as 
Las Casas, who was on the scene of action at the time. 
Diego Mendez, who was then in Xaragua, and probably 
a witness of the scene, says incidentall}^ in his will that 
the number of caciques either burnt or hanged was 
eighty-four. Las Casas gives eighty as the number in 
the house. The slaughter of the people was general 
and well-nigh complete. The few who escaped — some 
of them in canoes to a neighboring island—were brought 
back and condemned to slavery. The beautiful and 
generous Anacaona was taken to San Domingo in 
chains, and, on the strength of the confession enforced 
by the most terrific tortures, was publicly hanged like 
the vilest criminal. Such was the final reward of this 
beautiful and highly accomplished native princess by 
those she had always befriended in the most remarkable 
and even unaccountable manner. 

This shocking massacre was not enough to satisfy the 
bloodthirstiness of Ovando and his minions. For six 
months the governor's horse and foot continued to scour 
the forests and mountains in search of those who tried to 
escape. When the poor terrified creatures were found 



DISS A TISFA C TION. 527 

secreted in dens of the mountains they were dragged 
forth and hanged in the most summary manner as in- 
corrigible rebels. In commemoration of this great 
slaughter — oste7tsibly a victory — Ovando founded a town 
called St. Mary of the True Peace ! That such deeds 
of cruelty could have been perpetrated in the sincerity 
of good faith seems incredible. Such was the wise 
and humane government which succeeded that of the 
Admiral. 

While all this innocent blood was being shed, which 
continued through the greater part of a 3''ear, Columbus 
might lie on his back beneath the palm-leaf canopy on 
his worm-eaten ships, sweltering under a tropical sun, 
twinging with the gout, half starved, and harassed by 
the most unreasonable and cruel rebellions ! 

The last word of the previous paragraph is the key- 
note to the next incident in the experience of Colum- 
bus at Jamaica — the rebellion of the Porras brothers. 
It must be borne in mind that no tidings whatever 
had arrived as to the canoe-voyage of Mendez and 
Fiesco to Hispaniola. Meanwhile, many of those on 
the thatched wrecks fell sick, some in consequence of 
the unparalleled hardships of the voyage, and some 
because of the lack of their wonted provisions, 
especially wine and flesh ; for the Spaniards could not 
readily adapt themselves to the light vegetable diet 
of the Indians. Then, too, the depression of mind 
incident to their deplorable situation must have told 
heavily on the nerves and tissues of the healthiest 
bodies. And what could have been more favorable to 
the development of a mutinous spirit than the un- 
interrupted idleness necessitated by the situation ? 



528 MURMURING. 

Very soon mutterings arose liere and there. '' The 
Admiral would return into Spain no more, because 
their Catholic Majesties had turned him o£f, nor much 
less to Hispaniola, where he had been refused admit- 
tance at his coming from Spain, and that he had sent 
those in the canoes into Spain to solicit his own 
affairs, and not to bring ships or other succors, and 
that he designed, whilst they were soliciting their 
Catholic Majesties, to stay there to fulfil his banish- 
ment, for otherwise Bartholomew Fiesco had been 
come back by this time, as was given out he was to 
do. Besides, they knew not whether he and James 
Mendez were drowned by the way, which, if it had 
happened, they should never be relieved if they did 
not take care for it themselves, since the Admiral did 
not seem to look to it for the reasons aforesaid, and 
because of the gout, which had so seized all his limbs 
that he could scarce stir in his bed, much less undergo 
the fatigue and danger of going over to Hispaniola in 
canoes."^ Then, too, they would better come to a 
resolution in this matter while they were well. They 
might fall sick at any time, and then there would be 
no such thing as getting away. Nor could the Ad- 
miral in his present state of prostration bar their 
departure. At Hispaniola, where he had so many 
enemies, they could not fail to be well received, 
especially since they could report him in so helpless a 
condition. Once in Spain, Fonseca would make their 
case good, as would also " Morales, who kept for his 
mistress the sister of those Porrases, the ringleaders 
of the mutineers and chief fomenters of the sedition, 

1 Fernando Columbus, chapter cii. 



REBELLION. ran 

who did not doubt but they should be well received by 
their Catholic IMajesties, before whom all the fault 
would be laid upon the Admiral, as had been done in 
the affairs of Hispaniola with Roldan ; and their 
Majesties would the rather seize him and take all he 
had than be obliged to perform all that was agreed 
upon between them and him."^ 

These Porras brothers, Francisco and Diego, the 
former made captain of one of the ships, and the 
latter notar}^ and accountant-general by Columbus, 
who had been induced to favor them by Morales, the 
ro3-al treasurer, had been treated like relatives, even 
when they had proved themselves incapable of filling 
their several ofiices. It would seem that those whom 
the Admiral favored most were most susceptible of 
ingratitude. On the ad of Januarj^ a completely 
organized mutiny discovered itself. Francisco de Por- 
ras came rudely into the cabin on the stern of the 
caravel, where Columbus lay, a complete cripple from 
the gout. 

" My lord," said he, in a highly irritated mood, 
" what is the meaning that you will not go into 
Spain, and will keep us all here perishing ? " 

" I do not see how we can get away till those who 
have gone to Hispaniola in the canoes send us a ship," 
said Columbus. " No man can be more desirous of 
getting away from this place than I am, as well for 
my own interests as for the good of j^ou all, and I fully 
realize how accountable I am for the welfare of each 
one of you. If you have anything to propose, I will 
readily call the officers together in consultation, as I 
have more than once done heretofore." 

^ Fernando Columbus, chapter cii. 



530 REBELLION. 

"It is no time to talk," replied Porras, bruskly, 
" but a time to act, and to act promptly, or we may 
stay here forever." 

And turning his back on the Admiral he said in 
a loud and defiant voice, " I am for Spain with those 
who will follow me." At once his followers began to 
cry out here and there, " We will go with you," 
" We will go with you." Running about, they 
" possessed themselves of the forecastle, poop, and 
roundtops, all in confusion, and crying, ' Let them 
die ; ' others, ' For Spain,' ' For Spain,' and others, 
' What shall we do, captain ? ' Though the Admiral 
was then in bed, so lame of the gout that he could not 
stand, yet he could not forbear rising and stumbling 
out at this noise. But two or three worthy persons, 
his servants, laid hold of him and with labor laid him 
on his bed that the mutineers might not murder him. 
Then they ran to his brother, who was courageously 
come out with a half pike in his hand, and, wrest- 
ing it out of his hands, put him in to his brother, 
desiring Captain Porras to go about his business and 
not do some mischief they might all suffer for ; that he 
might be satisfied they did not oppose his going ; but 
if he should kill the Admiral, he could not expect but 
to be severely punished, without hopes of any benefit. 

" The tumult being somewhat appeased, the con- 
spirators took ten canoes that were by the ship's side, 
and which the Admiral had bought all about the 
island, and went aboard them as joyfully as if they 
had been in some part of Spain. Upon this, many 
more, who had no hand in the plot, in despair to 
see themselves, as they thought, forsaken, taking what 



MISCHIEF. ^31 

they could along with them, went aboard the canoes 
with them, to the great sorrow and affliction of those 
few faithful servants who remained with the Admiral, 
and of all the sick, who thought themselves lost for- 
ever, and without hope of ever getting off. And it is 
certain that had the people been well, not twenty men 
had remained with the Admiral, who w^ent out to comfort 
his men with the best words the posture of his affairs 
would suggest ; and the mutineers, with their captain, 
Francisco de Porras, in their canoes, went away to the 
east point of the island."^ 

On their \vay they did as much mischief as possible. 
They insulted the natives, taking by force provisions 
or anything else they wanted, and telling them to go 
to the Admiral for their pay. If he would not pay 
them they might put him to death, which, indeed, was 
the best thing they could do. Was he not hated by 
the Christians? Had he not been the cause of all the 
ills suffered by the Indians of Hayti ? He would soon 
treat them in like manner if they did not put him out 
of the way, for that was his design in staying there. 

Having reached the eastern extremity of Jamaica, 
they set out for Hispaniola as soon as there was a calm, 
taking Indians to paddle the canoes. But the}' had 
miscalculated the weather. Their canoes, too heavily 
loaded, made poor headwa}' in a rough sea with wdnd 
ahead ; they therefore resolved to turn back before they 
had made four leagues at sea. Then they were not skil- 
ful in managing their canoes, and the water coming in 
over the sides they threw everything overboard but 

^ The above quotations are from Fernando Columbus's Life of the Admi- 
ral. Thej are the words of an eye-witness. Chapter cii. 



532 CRUELT7. 

their arms and the provisions needed on the way back. 
As the wind became stronger their fears increased, 
and the}^ resolved to murder the Indians and throw 
them overboard. When they had killed some of these 
poor natives, others became so terrified that they 
sprang overboard, trusting to their skill in swimming 
as a means of escape. But when they became so 
weary that they caught hold of the sides of the canoes 
in order to recover their breath, their hands were 
chopped off and their bodies otherwise wounded. Hav- 
ing thus butchered eighteen, they spared a few to 
guide the canoes which they themselves could not 
handle. Such was their treatment of these timorous 
beings whom they had overpersuaded and coaxed into 
this perilous voyage. 

Having made their way back to Jamaica, they were 
much divided in opinion as to what it might be best to 
do. Some were for running over to Cuba and thence 
putting across to Hispaniola ; others proposed going 
back and making such terms of peace as they could 
with the Admiral, or, perhaps, taking away from him 
by force such provisions and arms as he still had, 
while others preferred to stay where the}^ were till 
another calm, when they might renew their attempt 
for a voyage to Hispaniola. This last advice prevail- 
ing, they foraged about the neighborhood a month 
waiting for fair weather ; but after two attempts with- 
out success, " they set out towards the west from one 
town to another, with an ill-will, without canoes or any 
comfort, sometimes eating what they found, and taking 
it where they could by force, according to their 



DEPRESSION OF COL UMB US. 533 

strength and that of the caciques through whose 
territories they passed."^ 

To return to Columbus : on his worm-eaten, stranded 
ships, forsaken by nearly all the healthy and available 
part of his crews, and racked by the pains of exhaustion 
and acute disease, his most incorrigible and pitiless 
enemy could scarcely have conceived anything worse 
for him. What heart could fail to be moved by the 
wailing utterances he recorded to his sovereigns while 
in Jamaica ? " Hitherto," he says, '' I have wept over 
others ; may Heaven now have mercy upon me, and 
may the earth weep for me. With regard to temporal 
things, I have not even a blanca for an offering ; and 
in spiritual things, I have ceased here in the Indies 
from observing the prescribed forms of religion. Sol- 
itary in my trouble, sick, and in daily expectation of 
death, surrounded b}^ millions of hostile savages full 
of cruelt}^, and thus separated from the blessed sacra- 
ments of our holy church, how will my soul be for- 
gotten if it be separated from the bod}^ in this foreign 
land? Weep for me, whoever has charity, truth, and 
justice ! " 

But afflictions and trials did not deter the Admiral 
from present duty. The sick were so devotedly cared 
for that they soon became convalescent, and the Indians 
were so conciliated by kind treatment that they con- 
tinued to bring provisions in exchange for trinkets and 
European commodities. " But they being a people that 
take little pains in sowing," says Fernando Columbus, 
" and we eating more in one day than they did in twenty, 
besides having no longer any inclination to our com- 

^ Fernando Columbus, chapter cii. 



534 



WAJVT OF FOOD. 



modities and making little account of them, they began 
in some measure to take the advice of the mutineers, 
since the}^ saw so great a part of our men against us, 
and therefore brought not such plenty of provisions as 
we stood in need of. This brought us to great distress ; 
for if we would have taken it b3^ force, the greatest part 
of us must have gone ashore in warlike manner and 
have left the Admiral aboard in great danger, he being 
very ill of the gout ; and if we expected they should 
bring it of their own accord, we must live in misery, 
and give ten times as much for it as we did at first, they 
knowing how to make their bargains, as being sensible 
of the advantages they had over us." 

But the Admiral was a great sailor even on dry 
land, and was about as expert in managing a com- 
munity of savage chieftains as in controling mu- 
tinous sailors. Hven the most striking phenomena 
of nature must be utilized in directing human thought 
and action. In three days there would be an eclipse 
of the moon. An interpreter was sent out to summon 
all the principal Indians on the island, for he wished 
to talk with them concerning a matter of great im- 
portance. They arrived the day before the eclipse, 
and the interpreter was instructed to tell them that 
the God in whom these Christians believed " took 
care of the good and punished the wicked," hence 
those Spaniards who had rebelled had not been 
permitted to reach Hispaniola, as Mendez and Fiesco 
had, but had wandered about miserably, as all the 
islanders knew, and this great God was angry with 
the Indians because they neglected to bring the 
Christians food in exchange for their commodities. 



THE ECLIPSE. r.r 

Plague and famine would, therefore, come as a pun- 
ishment upon the island, and, lest the}^ should doubt 
this, there would be a sign given them in the heavens. 
That ver}^ night they would behold the moon " rise 
angr}^ and of a bloody hue," in token of the judgments 
about to fall upon them. 

The Indians went away, some of them more or less 
terrified, and some of them regarding the matter 
merel}^ as an " idle tale." When the moon arose, the 
dark shadow began to advance upon her, increasing 
as she ascended. The Indians were on the lookout 
for it, and were so terrified that they came running 
in all directions, loaded down with provisions, " crying 
and lamenting," and beseeching the Admiral " by all 
means to intercede with God for them, that he might 
not make them feel the effects of his wrath, and 
promising for the future carefully to bring him all he 
wanted."^ 

The Admiral promised to speak with God for them, 
and, to this end, shut himself up during the remainder 
of the eclipse, the Indians meanwhile keeping up 
their cries and entreaties for help. When the eclipse 
began to recede and the moon became bright he came 
out of his cabin, " saying he had prayed to God for 
them, and promised him in their names they would be 
good for the future and use the Christians well, bring- 
ing them provisions and other necessaries, and that 
therefore God forgave them, and as a token of it they 
should see the angriness and bloody color of the moon 
go off."' 

1 Fernando Columbus, chapter ciii. * Ibid. 



536 ^UBRl. 

While lie was speaking the change mentioned took 
place; so the natives, overjoyed at the sight, con- 
tinued to thank the Admiral and to praise God till the 
moon was quite restored to them. " From that time 
forward," says Fernando Columbus, " they always 
took care to provide all that was necessary, ever 
praising the God of the Christians, for they believed 
the eclipses they had seen at other times had denoted 
mischief to befall them ; and being ignorant of the 
cause of them and that they happened at certain 
times, not believing it possible to know on earth what 
was to happen in the heavens, they certainly con- 
cluded the God of the Christians had revealed it to 
the Admiral." 

Bight months had passed since Mendez and Fiesco 
had launched their canoes for Hispaniola, and yet no 
word of any kind had come back. The men still 
remaining ^ith Columbus, especially those having 
recovered from their sickness, were becoming very 
impatient. Some thought that the above-named 
comrades had been lost at sea, others feared they had 
been killed by the Indians on landing at Hispaniola, 
while others conjectured that they might have fallen 
victims to the hardships they must have encountered 
along the south side of Hispaniola, in the hundred 
leagues of rough and mountainous coast washed by 
a strong westward current, before they could reach 
San Domingo. Their suspicions were still further 
increased by a report from the Indians of an upturned 
canoe which they had seen floating on the beach — 
one which the mutineers may have sent adrift for the 
very purpose of creating an alarm. Concluding, 



ESCOBAR'S CALL. r.^ 

therefore, that no relief would ever come to them, 
another mutin}^, consisting mostly of those who had 
been too sick to get away on the former occasion, was 
about to break out, when fortunately^ one afternoon, 
near night, the novel sight of a sail in the distance 
brought a quietus. 

The craft, sent out by Ovando, cast anchor near the 
stranded caravels, and the captain, Diego de Escobar, 
known as one of the most active coadjutors of Rol- 
dan's rebellion and condemned to death by Columbus, 
but pardoned by Bobadilla, entered a boat and ap- 
proached the wrecks. He came near enough to 
deliver a letter from Ovando, and also a cask of wine 
and some bacon ; then, moving away quite a distance, 
he told Columbus that he had been sent by the 
governor to express his deep regrets at his mis- 
fortunes, that he unfortunately had no vessel large 
enough to bring away him and his cre4s, but that 
he hoped soon to accommodate him. The Admiral's 
affairs, too, at Hispaniola were being faithfully looked 
after. If he wished to send a letter to the governor, 
would he prepare it quickly, as he must return at once. 

All this w^as truly an enigma. Columbus wrote 
hastil}^ to Ovando in the most friendly manner, 
depicting his deplorable situation, the late rebellion, 
and his dependence upon the good offices of the 
governor; moreover, he especially commended Men- 
dez and Fiesco to his favor, assuring him that they 
had set out on their perilous voyage simply as the 
messengers of his distressed condition. On receiving 
the letter, Escobar returned immediately to his craft 
and set sail in the gloom of the coming night. 



538 EXPLANATION AND ^UERT. 

As the disappointed crews watclied the retreating sail, 
they were still more and more perplexed at the cool- 
ness and sudden departure of these messengers, 
who had not been allowed to intercommunicate with 
them. Columbus, reading their gloomy disappointment 
in their faces, assured them that he was satisfied with 
the message, and believed that relief would soon come. 
Did it seem strange to them that he had not returned 
with Kscobar ? He preferred to remain and share their 
lot till a ship large enough to take them all away might 
arrive. Hope revived, and the heart went out of the 
conspiracy. 

But as Columbus reflected he found much ground for 
query in this strange and hasty call from one of his 
most malicious enemies. Since Mendez had performed 
his mission so faithfully and in so short a time, why 
had not this much at least been done before? And 
why now w^ the relief so scanty — barely enough to tanta- 
lize them ? Was Ovando afraid to have him returned to 
Spain, lest he should be reinstated in his viceroyalty, 
and so displace him ; or did he hope by this long 
delay to insure his death on this lonely island, among 
savages ? Was the unfriendly Escobar merel}'- a spy, 
sent out to ascertain something as to these possibilities ? 
To this very hour impartial students of history have 
continued to ask these same questions, but no answer 
has ever suggested itself which does not imply the 
most culpable and shameful neglect of a noble and most 
serviceable man, whom the world still delights to honor. 

Should we not believe Ovando guilty of some dark 
and sinister purpose, the fact still remains that he was 
at least unmindful of the keen sufferings incident to so 



O VA ND O'S A D MINIS TRA TION. 539 

great a calamity, and that is still further aggravated in 
that he was at this very time, as it would appear, com- 
pletel}^ absorbed in the most shameless and cruel per- 
secution of the natives. The exterminating wars, in 
which the aged, the infirm, and those in helpless in- 
fancy were alike subjected to the most indiscriminate 
slaughter ; the manner in which captives were gibbeted, 
hacked in pieces, wrapped in dr}^ straw and set on fire, 
or were sent awa}^ with their hands cut off, that the bleed- 
ing stumps of their arms might be a warning to those 
disposed to rebel against Spanish t3'ranny ; how others 
were made to slave in the mines, long distances from 
their homes, for a mere pittance of pay which mocked 
the pangs of hunger ; how many of the oppressed 
natives resorted to suicide as an escape from the most 
cruel outrages ; how others died from exhaustion on their 
wa3' home from the mines — all this and immeasurably 
more, even to the extermination of million^ of the once 
happy aborigines of these elysian isles in a few decades, 
all is told by the saintly Las Casas, who was an eye- 
witness of the shocking scenes and spent his life in 
trying to alleviate the miseries of the poor unfortu- 
nates. 

Such was the administration of Ovando, who had been 
sent to Hispaniola to correct the supposed misrule of Co- 
lumbus, and especially in respect to his so-called cruel 
treatment of the natives. In no way does the govern- 
ment of the Admiral appear so favorable, particularly in 
respect to the natives, as when contrasted with the hor- 
rors of the rule of Bobadilla and Ovando, whose exter- 
minating oppression of the Indian servants and slaves 
finds its explanation in their determination to gain favor 



540 OVERTURES TO THE REBELS. 

with the Spanish sovereigns by swelling their coffers 
with the much-coveted gold from the Indies. Indeed, 
the entire scheme of their management was a carefully 
studied and well-organized plan to this particular end, 
without any apparent regard for justice or human 
rights. Las Casas, whose detailed account of the 
cruelties of the Spaniards to the natives is so sickening 
as to be well-nigh unreadable, says, " All these things 
and others revolting to human nature my own eyes 
beheld ; and now I almost fear to repeat them, scarce 
believing myself, or whether I have not dreamt them."^ 

But to return to the Admiral on his worm-eaten ships, 
we find the whole aspect of things changed by Esco- 
bar's short and mysterious call. Hope had returned to 
every heart, and a vantage-ground had been gained for 
treating with the rebels, with whom, now that it was 
clear how safely and successfully Mendez and Fiesco 
had made their voyage and ultimately accomplished 
their purpose, and that the services of the Admiral 
would be acknowledged and he treated with favor at 
court, it was thought fit to make overtures. Two of the 
most noted men in the crews, therefore, were sent, car- 
rying along with them some of the newly arrived 
bacon as proof positive that a ship had really arrived. 
The main item of the proposition was an offer of pardon 
to all, irrespective of the past, and free passage with the 
Admiral to Spain in the ships expected in case they 
would return at once to their allegiance. 

Porras came out to meet the messengers, keeping his 
men back lest they should be moved by the propositions 
which might be made. But the ears of his men were 

1 Lib. ii., cap. 17, MS. 



AUDACITT OF THE REBELS. 541 

sharp ; they readily caught the intelligence of the 
arrival of the caravel, the good health of those with the 
Admiral, and the overtures he was making. After 
several consultations on the part of the leading muti- 
neers, it was resolved not to accept the Admiral's offers, 
nor to regard the general proffer of pardon he had sent. 
If two ships should arrive for his conveyance, and he 
would allow them one, they would go peaceably to His- 
paniola. Should there be but one ship, he might assign 
them half of it. And since they had lost their clothing 
and commodities for trade in their ill-fated attempts to 
leave the island, he must share what he had with them. 
When the messengers pronounced these proposals un- 
reasonable the}^ had the audacity to say if these terms 
were not granted them " by fair means," they would 
take them " by force." 

When Porras and his associate leaders reported 
themselves to the rank and file of the mutineers they 
discovered that the}' were not sustained in their 
decision. A general amnesty ! a free and honorable 
return to Spain ! — these were items not to be thrown 
away as trifles. Besides, the magnitude of the pros- 
trate, suffering Admiral rose before them in such 
proportions that they dared not continue obnoxious 
to his power. But the deceitful eloquence of Porras 
rose equal to the emergency. It would not do to 
risk dissension in this hour of danger. They must 
beware of this bait, he insinuated, for the Admiral 
was naturally cruel and vindictive, and would make 
them smart when they came into his power. As for 
themselves — the Porras brothers — they had influence 
at court, and therefore had nothing to fear. Had not 



^42 INCORRIGIBILITY OF THE MUTINEERS. 

Roldan and his company rejected all Columbus's offers, 
and persisted in their rebellion, and yet came out to 
great advantage in the end, even sending the Admiral 
home in chains ? As for that phantom ship just 
reported, it M^as a mere illusion of the twilight, con- 
jured up by art mag ic^ in which Columbus was known 
to be a great adept. If it had been a real caravel, why 
did not its crew communicate with those on the wrecks ? 
Why did it stay so short a time ? Why did not the 
Admiral, with his brother and son, embark on its home- 
ward voyage ? This harangue, so shrewdly put, had the 
desired effect. The men concluded to remain in 
rebellion, and, going at once with Porras to the ships, 
take by force what they wanted, and capture the 
Admiral. 

The mutineers approached within about a mile of 
the ships, but* Columbus was informed of them, and 
sent out Don Bartholomew with fifty men well armed. 
He was first to use " good words," but, if the offenders 
proved incorrigible, he was to be ready for the worst. 
He and his men took their stand on a little hill about 
a bow-shot from the rebels, and sent to them as mes- 
sengers the same two men who had made overtures to 
them before. But Porras, whose force was quite as 
numerous as that of the adelantado, was in no mood 
for a peaceful conference. The rebels were all able 
seamen, well hardened by their outdoor strolling, 
while those with Don Bartholomew were weak through 
sickness and confinement on the wreck — indeed, were 
only gentlemen and pale-faced civilians — and would 
not dare to fight. 

Deluded by these words, the rebels refused to listen 



THE SKIRMISH. ^4^ 

to any overtures for peace, but presenting a solid rank 
of swords and lances, cried, " Kill ! kill ! " Six of their 
strongest men resolved, under oath, to stand together 
in the attack till they had slain the adelantado. Of 
the rest they made no account. " But they were so 
well received," says Fernando Columbus, " that five or 
six of them dropped at the first charge, most of them 
being of those of them that aimed at the lieutenant, 
who fell upon his enemies in such manner that, in a 
very short time, Juan Sanchez, from whom Quibian 
made his escape, was killed, as was Juan Barber, the 
first I saw draw his sword when they ran into rebellion, 
and some others fell very much wounded, and Francisco 
de Porras, their captain, was taken. Seeing them- 
selves so roughly handled, like base, rebellious people, 
they turned their backs and fled as fast as they could." 

The adelantado, whose hand had been wounded by 
the sword which Francisco de Porras had thrust 
through his buckler, and who, with the aid of his 
comrades, had captured the rebel leader before he could 
extricate himself, wished to pursue the rebels still 
further; but his men dissuaded him, saying that 
punishment must not be carried too far. Besides, 
there was a body of the natives in arms near by, 
simply looking on, indeed, but they might be tempted 
to attack if they saw the Spaniards scattering in the 
pursuit of their own men. 

The skirmish over, the Indians, led by curiosity, 
prowled around to examine the wounds which the 
fatal weapons of the white men had made in those of 
their own flesh, with some such feelings, probably, as 
men might look on a battle-field of the gods. " Peter 



244 LEDESMA'S WOUNDS. 

de Ledesnia, that pilot we mentioned above," says 
Fernando Columbus, " who went with Vincent Yanez 
to Honduras, and swam ashore at Belen, fell down 
certain rocks, and lay hid that day and the next till 
the evening, nobody assisting him or knowing where 
he was except the Indians, who with amazement, not 
knowing how our swords would cut, with little sticks 
opened his wounds, one of which was in his head, 
and his brains were seen through it ; another in his 
shoulder, so large that his arm hung as it were loose ; 
and the calf of one leg almost cut off, so that it hung 
down to his ankle ; and one foot, as if it had a slipper 
on it, being sliced from the heel to the toes. Notwith- 
standing all which desperate hurts, when the Indians 
disturbed him he would say, ' Let me alone, for if I get 
up,' etc.,^ and they, at these words, would fly in great 
consternation. This being known aboard the ships, 
he was carried into a thatched house hard by, where 
the dampness and gnats were enough to have killed 
him. Here, instead of turpentine, they dressed his 
wounds with oil, and he had so many besides those 
already mentioned that the surgeon who dressed them 
swore that for the first eight days he still found out 
new ones, and yet at last he recovered, the gentleman 
of the chamb'er dying, in whom he apprehended no 
danger,^ The next day, being the 20th of May, all 
those that had escaped sent a petition to the x^dmiral 
humbly begging he would be merciful to them, for 
they repented them of what was past, and were ready 
to submit themselves to him. The Admiral granted 

^ It is said that his voice was particularly deep and impressive. 
* This man had only been wounded slightly in the hip. 



INDIGNA TION AT O VA ND O. - 4 ^ 

their request, and passed a general pardon upon condi- 
tion the captain should continue a prisoner as he was, 
that he might not raise another mutiny.''^ 

After a year of weary waiting, the inmates of the 
ships stranded on this island of savages were overjoyed 
at the sight of two vessels making for the harbor. One 
of them had been hired and fitted out by the ever- 
faithful Mendez. Stimulated by this example, the 
other had been sent by Ovando, in command of the Ad- 
miral's agent at San Domingo. 

According to Las Casas, the flagrant delay of Ovando 
to send relief to Columbus in his sufferings had 
awakened such universal indignation that even the 
pulpits gave their voice against it. The governor was 
therefore pressed into the sending relief in this eleventh 
hour in order to escape the universal condemnation. 
The common S3anpathy of mankind must ever be with 
the suffering. In the case of Columbus, notwithstand- 
ing all the efforts to rob him of the proper acknovvl- 
edgment of his merits, it could not fail to be seen 
how poorly the treatment he received compared with 
his incalculable services. 

When Columbus and his crews left the miserable 
wrecks, on the 28th of June, 1504, their joy might be 
more readily imagined than expressed. On the whole, 
the impressions which had been made upon the gener- 
ous-hearted natives must have been favorable, for 
Oviedo sa3'^s they wept when the Spaniards left. 

Since Mendez and Fiesco had reached Hispaniola in 
their canoes in four days, we might fancy a mere sail 
of a week at most for these ships bearing back the Ad- 

^ Fernando Columbus, chapter cvii. 



546 



COLUMBUS AND O VAN DO. 



miral to Sau Doiniugo ; but sucli was the opposition of 
winds and currents that only on the 15th of August 
did they reach that harbor. The aged shipwrecked 
mariner, a mere suffering wreck of humanity, was 
hailed with a universal sense of kindly favor. Says 
Irving, " What had been denied to his merits was 
granted to his misfortunes ; and even the envious, ap- 
peased by his present reverses, seemed to forgive him 
for having once been so triumphant." The governor 
and all the grandees of the place came to meet him, 
and he was treated with the utmost courtesy, as a guest 
of Ovando's house. But, with all this external cordiality, 
it was felt by Columbus and his friends that at heart 
Ovando was cool and suspicious. As an evidence of 
this, they saw Porras, a traitor-prisoner, on his way to 
Spain for trial, now set free. Indeed, the governor even 
talked of punishing those who had taken up arms 
against the mutineers in the Admiral's defence. Here 
at once arose a collision between the two of&cials, as to 
the proper jurisdiction over these Jamaica criminals. 
Ovando finally yielded the point and sent them to Spain 
for trial. 

There was nothing here in Hispaniola which could 
yield Columbus any particular delectation. The 
island was wholly changed. The happy, kind-hearted 
natives, the smoke of whose camp-fires had once en- 
livened the forests, and whose canoes had been made to 
glide so cheerfully about the harbors, had been utterly 
broken in spirit and almost annihilated. Where was the 
cheerful service and the Christian civilisation he had 
hoped would obtain among them ? 

Just here it will be pertinent to glance at the govern- 



'iili 



OVANDO'S COLONY. 



547 



ment of Ovando in respect to affairs in general and in 
respect to the natives in particular. It will be remem- 
bered that he had been sent out to repair the damaging 
effects of Columbus's administration. Let us see how 
this ruling knight of Alcantara, noted for his wisdom 
and his high moral qualities, compares with the Admiral, 
so universally spoken against. With the change of 
governors, a new impulse had been given to the affairs 
of the Indies. The old illusion as to inexhaustible 
treasures of wealth to be picked up in the new country 
revived, for no one seemed to suspect that the causes of 
disaster to the colony were to be found in the nature of 
things — in the fact that a crowd of adventurers, demor- 
alized soldiers, and prison-convicts, expecting to appro- 
priate the civilized wealth of the Indies, could not 
thrive in a wilderness, among savages — in a part of the 
world, indeed, which no one even suspected to exist. 
The one man who governed was supposed to be the 
wheel upon which the fortunes of all who emigrated 
would turn. The appointment of Ovando inspired a 
new confidence, and there was about the same scramble 
of adventurers for his magnificent fleet of thirty sail 
as there had been when Columbus started on his second 
voyage. 

Las Casas, an eye-witness, gives a vivid description 
of affairs when these adventurers arrived in the new 
countr}'. Scarcely had they stepped ashore when the 
roads to the gold-mines were thronged. Even the 
proud hidalgo was carrying his bag of biscuit and 
miner's tools, envying the lucky fellow who could 
make the journey on horseback, and thereby bring 
back the greater load of gold. Each one strove to be 



548 



THEIR DISAPP0INTMEN7 . 



the first in the mines of the mountains, where they 
expected to gather gold like fruit from the trees. How 
great was their surprise, on reaching the spot, to find 
that they must dig laboriously, and that it required an 
experienced eye to detect the veins of gold, which must 
be searched out with the utmost perseverance and 
patience ; and that, after the most exhaustive efforts, 
they not infrequently failed to find the precious ore. 
And while many thus failed utterly, mau}^ others 
accomplished so little that they were soon obliged to 
look upon their efforts as exceedingly unprofitable ; 
so that, in a short time, there straggled over the 
highways and byways a lot of miserable, disappointed 
wretches, who had consumed their provisions, worn 
themselves out with useless toil, and were now 
returning in utmost chagrin and disappointment over 
the tracks made outward in the highest anticipations 
of hope. San Domingo was thronged with moneyless, 
hopeless, forlorn wretches, ready to sink into the most 
squalid misery. Some there were who were compelled 
to sell even the clothes from their backs to save them- 
selves from starvation; and while a few gained employ- 
ment from the older settlers, such was the generally 
reduced condition of the colony that the greater 
number could find no occupation whatever, and, be- 
coming the suppliants of public charity, were the vic- 
tims alike of hunger and shame. This union of 
physical want and mental torture in an uncultivated 
country of tropical climate soon brought on burning 
fevers and wasting consumptions, and in an incredibly 
short time over one thousand inhabited the newly 
made grave-yards of San Domingo and vicinity. 



OPPRESSION OP THE NA TIVES. 549 

No one thought of attributing this fearful mortality 
to a maladministration on the part of Ovando, as they 
no doubt would have done in the case of Columbus ; 
on the other hand, his treatment of the Spaniards was 
considered wise and discreet. The same cannot be 
said, however, as to his management of the natives. 
To them he was simply a sure and swift destruction. 

It will be remembered that Columbus, under the 
severe pressure of Roldan's rebellion, had granted 
repartiimentos of the natives ; that is, he had ordered 
the caciques to furnish certain numbers of their sub- 
jects as laborers for the different Spaniards, and the 
service thus rendered was to be accepted instead of the 
original tax in gold-dust, cotton, etc. Under a con- 
siderate and humane management, the system might 
have resulted well, teaching the natives regular 
methods of industr^^, and bringing them in contact 
with civilization and Christianit3^ Under Bobadilla 
the system had been abused to the utmost. When his in- 
dulgence of the self-willed and depraved Spaniards had 
placed them in a state of riot riui inad^ and therefore 
entirel}^ beyond his control, the chief result was the un- 
mitigated sufferings of the helpless natives. Did he 
teach that the sovereigns of Spain did not care to enrich 
themselves by means of the new country, and so sell 
the lands and estates of the crown at the lowest possible 
figure, and did he reserve only one-eleventh instead of 
one-third of the gold for the crown ? With ordinary 
working of the mines this small proportion would have 
fallen to a mere nothing, and the natives must, there- 
fore, be subjected to the highest possible pressure of 
labor and toil in order Lo swell the eleventh of the gold 



550 OPPRESSION OP THE NA TIVES. 

to as much and even more tlian one-third of it used to 
be. Moreover, the immense tracts of land, almost given 
away, must be ameliorated, cultivated, and rendered 
productive of sugar-cane, cotton, and tropical fruits. 
In order to carry out the two departments of labor as 
thoroughly as possible, two Spaniards would unite 
their interests, one superintending the working of the 
mines, and the other taking charge of the cultivation 
of the land. Special attention was given to the 
accumulation of gold. " Make the most of your time," 
was Bobadilla's oft reiterated advice ; " there is no 
telling how long it will last." The Spaniards were 
only too ready to carry out his advice to the full, and 
so mercilessly forced the Indians to their utmost 
capacity of labor that the eleventh part of the gold 
yielded a greater revenue than did one-third under 
Columbus. 

The picture of the scenes which followed are por- 
trayed in a startling manner by that most humane 
and faithful eye-witness, Las Casas. In his old age, 
many years after the events had transpired, he 
recalled them as in a painful reverie. The light 
vegetable and frugivorous diet of the natives and 
their eas}^, pleasure-taking style of life from time 
immemorial had fixed a characteristic weakness of 
constitution which positively incapacitated them for 
the hardships of slavery. In addition to the failure 
of strength incident to excessive labor was the ener- 
vating effects of the most atrocious punishments, 
inflicted for the slightest offences. Behold that 
wretched criminal just escaped from the galleys of 
Castile or from the bloody hands of the executioner 
by the special grace of the sovereigns ! He puts on 



OPPRESSION OP THE NATIVES. 



SS^ 



all tlie airs of a grand cavalier, is attended by an 
immense train of servants, and keeps a whole harem 
of young girls. Nor is he satisfied with the common 
Indian girls, but seeks out women of birth and rank 
— sisters and daughters of chieftains, who, from time 
out of mind, had been regarded with the most sacred 
feelings of veneration. Now, trembling and in tears, 
they are forced to minister to the passions of the 
vilest felons, who, but for the discovery of a new 
world, would have long since been hanging on 
gibbets. Is this luxurious Spaniard about to travel ? 
He will disdain the back of a horse or a mule, and 
stretch himself out daintily on a hammock or litter, 
to be borne gently on the shoulders of the Indians. 
Others, following along, must hold the leaves of some 
gigantic palm over his head to shield from the sun 
a face bronzed not many years since in the exposure 
of the galleys; others, still, wave before that face a 
great feather fan to ward off the inconvenience of a 
burning atmosphere. Las Casas could recall the sore 
and bleeding shoulders of the Indians who had thus 
carried their tyrannical masters through long journeys. 
When one of these newly made specimens of 
gentility reaches an Indian village, he seizes the stores 
of provisions in the most wasteful and wanton manner, 
and having been well feasted, orders the cacique and 
his subjects to dance and sing for his amusement. 
If he speaks to them, it is in the most haughty 
language, and the slightest sign of resentment or the 
least offence whatever brings down the lash or the 
cudgel, possibly even to the death of the offender. If 
any of the better class of Spaniards took exception to 



552 'THE NATIVES MADE FREE. 

such vile despotism, they might appeal in vain to the 
far more numerous class of bad people recently liberated 
from their penal life in Spain, or, sending" distressing 
accounts to Spain on the other side of the globe, wait 
for a possible but slow and imperfect redress. 

The fabulous quantities of gold amassed b}^ Boba- 
dilla did not close the eyes of the Spanish sovereigns 
to the atrocity of his methods, and when it was re- 
solved that Ovando should succeed him every precau- 
tion was taken to remedy the evils brought about by his 
administration. Many and salutary in themselves were 
the new regulations made by the sovereigns. Among 
others, it was resolved that the natives, who had suffered 
so severely under the oppressions of Bobadilla, should 
be free. But under this new regime they refused to 
labor in the mines. 

Ovando at once reported to the sovereigns the evils 
of this state of things, saying that tribute could not be 
collected, nor vice repressed, nor any regular industry 
be secured among the lazy and improvident Indians, 
unless they were compelled to work ; nor could they 
be brought under the influence of Christianity while in 
a state of freedom, for they then kept entirely aloof 
from the Spaniards. On the strength of these sugges- 
tions new regulations were made. The sovereigns 
wrote to Ovando, saying that he should exact moderate 
labor from the natives ; but authority must be enforced 
in the most kindly manner, the laborers must be paid 
regularly and fairly, and must be instructed in religion 
on certain days of the week. 

This was enough. Ovando made the uttermost of 
these instructions in distributing the Indians as laborers 



THE NA TIVES A GAIN ENS LA VED. 



553 



among the Spaniards. Requisitions were made on the 
different caciques for regular appointments of their 
subjects to each Castilian, according to his supposed 
needs. These laborers were to be paid, and instructed 
in the Catholic faith ; but the pa}^ was a mere apology 
for wages, and the instruction was limited in most 
cases to a few drops of water administered in baptism. 
The term of labor was at first limited to six months, 
but was soon increased to eight months, and before 
long the whole system became more intolerably cruel 
than were the worst days of the former administration. 
Often set to work at a distance of several days' journey 
from their families, and confined to the unsubstantial 
cassava-bread, with a mere scrap of pork occasionally 
to each, they were forced, under the lash, to the utmost 
capacit}^ of their ability to toil. See those Spaniards 
who superintend the mines taking their dinner ! The 
famished Indians scramble under the table like dogs 
for an}' bone that ma}^ be dropped. See how they 
gnaw and suck it, and then pounding it between stones, 
mix it with their cassava-bread ! But the miners are 
more fortunate than those toiling in the fields, for they 
never taste "flesh or fish," but are obliged to keep up 
on a little cassava-bread and a few roots. And these 
poorly-fed Indians, all unused to work, Avere compelled 
to a degree of exertion sufficient to break down the 
strongest well-fed man. Do any of these poor mortals, 
fainting under a scorching sun, flee from this exces- 
sive toil and these severe lashes, and seek refuge in the 
mountains ? They are hunted with bloodhounds like 
wild beasts, are scourged like slaves of the barbarous 
ages, and loaded down with chains to prevent a second 



2^4 HUNGER I HUNGER I 

escape. Many dropped and died in tlie fields and. in 
the mines. Others, who survived their six or eight 
months of labor, were so far from their homes — forty, 
sixty, or eight}^ leagues — with only a little cassava- 
bread, a few roots, or a few agi peppers to support life 
by the way, that their frail constitutions gave out, and 
they sank down and died. " I have found many dead 
in the road," says the good Las Casas ; "others were 
gasping under the trees, and others in the pangs of 
death faintly cried, ' Hunger ! hunger !' " Did any reach 
their homes ? In most cases, during the long and weary 
months, the wives and children had wandered away or 
perished. The little hovel or wigwam called home, 
with its rude garden possibly, w^as overgrown with 
weeds, and the poor exhausted wretch crept up to his 
door, only to lie down and die in despair. Under these 
intolerable hardships the weakly race was fast passing 
away. In the wild delirium of despair many committed 
suicide ; mothers destroyed their infants, that they 
might thus be spared a life so intolerably wretched. 
Though scarcely twelve years had passed since the 
discovery of Hispaniola, hundreds of thousands of the 
once happy natives had perished under the relentless 
hand of the licentious, avaricious white man. The 
shameful massacre at Xaragua and the sad fate of 
Anacaona under the direction of Ovando are related 
elsewhere. The war with Higuay and the ruthless de- 
struction of the natives we must pass over with a mere 
mention. 

There were originally five Indian sovereignties in 
Hispaniola. Four of these had already been subdued, 
and their caciques had come to a miserable end. The 



O UTRA GE A GAINST A CA CI^ UE. 555 

downfall of the fiftli invited tHe relentless hand of 
Ovando. The people of this kingdom of Higuay, which 
comprised the east end of the island, were in closer 
proximity to the Caribs than were the other kingdoms 
on the island, and had, consequently, been trained into 
a more warlike temper and habit. Their chieftain, 
Cotabanama, was a notable giant, measuring a yard 
from shoulder to shoulder, and being otherwise in good 
proportion. The natives of Higuay came into collision 
with the Spaniards as follows : Some Spaniards had 
wantonly set a dog on a cacique, who was thus shame- 
fully mangled, and died in consequence soon after. 
Again and again the Higuayans had sought redress, 
but to no purpose. By and by the}^ surprised a shallop 
carrying eight Spaniards near the island Saona, and 
slaughtered the crew as a retaliation. Now there was 
an uprising of the whole kingdom, and Ovando sent out 
Juan de Esquibel with four hundred men to quell the 
insurrection and administer suitable punishment for 
the massacre. 

Cotabanama, having assembled his warriors, was 
ready for a stout resistance. Never did savages show 
a braver or more determined spirit. From time imme- 
morial they had contended successfully against the 
cruel Caribs, and the}?- would now test their arms and 
their valor to the utmost in resisting the encroachments 
of the detested white men. As the Spanish warriors 
ascended the beautiful and cultivated plateaus of this 
mountain region they were contested every step of the 
way in the most spirited manner ; but the Spanish 
implements of war and their discipline in tactics proved, 
as usual, too much for naked savages. The Higuayan 



556 EXTREME CRUELTY. 

forces were soon scattered, and sougiit refuge in the 
recesses of mountain rocks and in the thick forests. 
Women and children and the aged and infirm were 
hidden away in the darkest caves and deepest recesses 
of the mountains. When the Spaniards came upon 
them they slaughtered them in the most indiscriminate 
and cruel manner. The island of Saona was treated 
with special revenge. Some six or seven hundred 
natives, seeking refuge in one large enclosure, were all 
put to the sword without mercy. The few who escaped 
were made slaves, and the island was a desolation. 

As no extent of bravery could enable these naked 
Indians to hold their own against the steel-clad war- 
riors of Spain, they sued for peace, and were promised 
protection if they would cultivate a large tract of their 
beautiful table-lands in the mountains, and thus produce 
every year an immense quantity of bread. Cotabanama, 
the giant cacique, was so magnanimous in forgiving 
and forgetting the cruel wrongs suffered by him and 
his people that he joined in the most sacred friendship 
with Esquibel, even to the exchange of names with 
him as a symbol of a perpetual heart-union. 

But the peace did not last long. About the time 
when Columbus was leaving the wreck at Jamaica a 
new revolt broke out among the Higuaj^ans. The 
Spaniards had exceeded the bounds of their treaty in 
requiring the Indians not only to raise the grain stipu- 
lated, but to carry it on their backs to San Domingo. 
Then, too, after their usual manner, the Spaniards had 
outraged the sisters, daughters, and even the wives of 
the natives. There was a general rebellion. The 
Higuayans burnt a large wooden fortress biiilt by the 
Spaniards, and put many of them to death. 



BRA VERT OF THE NATIVES. 



557 



Ovando gave orders to carrj^ fire and sword into 
Higuay. The romantic heroism of the former war was 
re-enacted, and many v/ere the incidents of the most 
impressive bravery. It is said that some of the 
wounded, into whose flesh the swift arrows from the 
cross-bows had sunk to the feather, drew them out, 
broke them with their teeth, and, hurling them at the 
Spaniards in helpless fur}^, fell dead in their tracks. 

When an}'- of the Indians were found they were 
subjected to the most excruciating tortures in order to 
force them into a betrayal of their concealed country- 
men. When they found aged men, women, and help- 
less children hid away among the rocks and caves of 
the mountains they ran their swords through them, 
and hacked them in pieces in the most atrocious man- 
ner. One fearful battle ensued, lasting from tw^o 
o'clock in the afternoon till night-fall, in which the 
poor naked Indians fought in defence of their country 
and their homes with extreme energy to the last. 
When their weak bows and slender arrows failed them 
they hurled showers of stones from their rocky heights, 
and were only the more infuriated at seeing the blood 
and the mangled corpses of their countrymen. They 
were completely routed, however, by the keen-edged 
steel and the gunpowder of the Spaniards. The next 
morning they were nowhere to be seen. The Span- 
iards, now breaking up into small parties, went in every 
direction, hunting them as if they had been wild 
beasts. They sought especially after the caciques, 
particularly Cotabanama. , The Indians kept up their 
retreat with great caution, a whole line of twenty 
or more treading in the same tracks, leaving a footprint 



558 



THEIR SUFFERINGS. 



like that of a single man, and scarcel}^ displacing a 
branch or leaf of the forest. 

But the Spaniards had become exceedingly sharp in 
trailing out their victims. The displacing of a few 
withered leaves would give them the clew, even amidst 
the confusing tracks of animals. With the keen nose 
of a hound, they could scent from afar the smoke of 
Indian fires. Not only did they continue to torture the 
straying victims of their search, and massacre en masse 
the multitudes of the helpless taking refuge secretly 
in the mountains, but to inspire the most overwhelming 
terror they would cut off the hands of such as they 
found roaming at large, and send them as a warning, 
to intimidate their friends into a surrender. " Num- 
berless were those," says Las Casas, " whose hands 
were cut off in this manner, and many of them fainted 
and died by the way, from pain and loss of blood." 
The cruel, persecuting white men became ingenious in 
the invention of new and unheard-of cruelties. Be- 
hold that row of miserable victims on a long line of 
gibbets, so low down that the feet of the sufferers 
dangle on the ground, in order that death might be 
as lingering as possible ! There is even a blasphemous 
play upon a sacred number in history, and thirteen are 
hung together, in honor of Christ and his twelve apostles. 
Not content with seeing their tortured victims struggle 
in the air, the soldiers test the strength and execution 
of their swords by hacking and hewing them in pieces. 
Some they wrap in dry straw, which they set on fire, 
terminating life in the most intense agony. The 
caciques were broiled to death on gridirons over slow 
fires, and when their groans and cries annoyed the 



COTABANAMA. ^^^ 

Spauish officers their mouths were crammed with chips 
in order to gag them. '' All these things, and others 
revolting to human nature, my own eyes beheld," says 
Las Casas, who in old age recalled these shocking 
scenes of his youth, saying, " and now I almost fear to 
repeat them, scarcely believing my own recollections, 
and w^ondering if I have not dreamt them." 

But the capture of Cotabanama was the great desid- 
eratum with Bsquibel. Without it, Higuay w^ould 
never completely surrender. The chieftain, with his 
wife and children, had taken refuge in a cave in the 
midst of a labyrinth of rocky forest, in the centre of 
the island Saona. Esquibel, with some fifty men, em- 
barked in a caravel at night, and, sailing along the 
shadowy side of the island, landed his men on an ob- 
scure part of the coast at the dawn of day, before Co- 
tabanama's spies had taken their stations. Presently 
two of these spies were brought to Esquibel, who soon 
drew^'^out of them the fact that the chief was in the 
island. He thrust a poniard through one of these un- 
fortunates in order to inspire terror in the other, whom 
he bound and compelled to act as a guide. 

Kvidently the cacique was not far away, so every 
Spaniard was on the alert to be his captor. They soon 
discovered a point at which the main path forked. Only 
Juan Lopez took the path to the left. With a bravery 
and an intuition on the track of the savage peculiar to 
himself, he threaded his way around hills so dense 
with thicket and forest that he could scarce see half 
a bow-shot ahead. Entering a gorge among the rocks, 
where the excess of vegetation and the deep cut in the 
mountain almost shut out the light, he found himself 



56o 



THE GIANT IS CAPTURED. 



face to face with some dozen Indian warriors, in single 
file. How easily they might have pierced this solitary 
enemy with their arrows ; but they were petrified with 
surprise, having depended on their spies to guard the 
island, and now all suddenly suspectiug a host of white 
men to be just at hand. Lopez understood human 
nature, and follow^ed up this first surprise by boldly 
advancing and calling for Cotabanama, Tremblingly 
they replied that he was just behind them, and let him 
pass on to the rear. The giant cacique grasped his 
bow ; but before he could draw the string Lopez had 
struck him with his sword, and the Indians about him 
had fled in a panic. Terrified at the blood gushing 
from his wound, Cotabanama cried out, " I am Juan 
de Esquibel," thinking his former change of names 
might be a guarantee of safety. Instantly Lopez 
seized him by the long hair of his head with his left 
hand, and with his right hand was about to plunge his 
sword into his body, but the cacique warded off the 
thrust with his huge arm, and clinching the Spaniard, 
hurled him to the ground. The struggle was long 
and fierce between these two powerful athletes ; and 
the bleeding cacique, being on top of his adversary, 
was not only likely to crush him with his great weight, 
but was just grasping him by the throat to strangle 
him, when the Spaniards on the other path, being 
attracted by the noise, came to the rescue of Lopez. 
The poor cacique, giant though he was, could avail 
nothing against so many. In the large cavern near 
by, from which the cacique's wife and children had 
already fled, they found a huge chain which some 
Indian prisoners, once bound with it, had carried away. 



HIS CRUEL FATE. 561 

With this the}'- secured the cacique's immense hands, 
and led him, all bleeding, to a village near by. In the 
village square the Spaniards arranged trunks of trees 
like a huge gridiron, on which they proposed to broil 
the giant ; but on a second thought they concluded to 
make a greater exhibition of their trophy, and so sent 
him on board a caravel, in chains, to San Domingo. 
Here he was a curiosity, and as he was paraded along 
the streets the crowds thronged him from every 
direction, gazing on this huge blood-stained image of 
despair, already become the mere shadow of himself. 
In these more humane days, so grand a specimen of 
the human race, guilty of no greater crime than an 
heroic defence of his outraged country, would be 
entitled to some kindly, or even juagnanimous^ treat- 
ment ; but Ovando simply adjudged him to the fate of 
the vilest criminal, and hanged him ignominiously on 
the public square. 

Thus ended the struggle of the last native chieftain 
against the cruel encroachments of the white man. 
The mere remnant — perhaps one-sixth — of the once 
numerous and happy population of the island now 
succumbed to the hardships and sufferings incident to 
the conquests of the steel-clad foreigners, and, broken 
alike in spirit and in that physical endurance which is 
born of hope, they gradually disappeared. 

Such was the unhappy Hayti to which Columbus 
returned near the middle of August, 1504, from his 
long and tr^'ing confinement on the Jamaica wrecks. 
Ovando received him vdth formal politeness and an 
affected cordiality ; but his inclination to let the Porras 
rebels go free, and to dispute the jurisdiction of the 



562 



COL UMB US' S FINANCES. 



Admiral over his men even in his trying situation on 
the lonely island of Jamaica, soon caused the latter to 
feel ill at home, and induced a return to Spain as soon 
possible. 

Notwithstanding the efforts of the ever-faithful Car- 
vajal as agent, the financial resources of Columbus 
were sadly demoralized at San Domingo. For this 
Ovando would seem to be the subject of just blame. 
The Admiral collected what funds he could, repaired 
the ship in which he had sailed from Jamaica, and put 
her in the command of the adelantado for the convey- 
ance of those who wished to return with him to 
Spain, many of the companions of his late voyage pre- 
ferring to remain in Hispaniola. As these latter were 
in poverty and rags almost to nakedness, he made for 
them what provision he could out of his slender 
purse, wholl}^ regardless of their recent unkindness to 
him. Chartering another vessel for the convenience 
of himself, his son, and his more intimate and faithful 
friends, the little squadron sailed September 12, 1504. 
They were barely out at sea, when a gale carried 
away the mast of the Admiral's caravel, and she was 
obliged to consign her crew and passengers to the other 
vessel and put back to San Domingo. The solitary 
craft now sailed on with fine weather for over a month, 
when, October i8th, a severe storm burst upon her. 
Then, after a short calm, a tempestuous whirlwind 
splintered the mainmast into four pieces, and it re- 
quired all the adelantado's resources, aU)ug with the 
counsel of the sick Admiral stretched helplessly on 
his couch, to raise the yard, and tying planks on all' 
sides of it, thus extemporize a mast. A few days later 



HOME AGAIN. 563 

Still another storm sprung the foremast, and in this 
crippled and toggled-up plight they entered the port 
of San Lucas on the 7th of November. We shall now 
see what rest and comfort awaited the tempest-tossed 
Admiral, aged, infirm, and racked with pain. 




CHAPTER XXL 

THE LAST VOYAGE. 

ROM Sau Lucas, Columbus was borne to Se- 
ville, where he remained till May of the fol- 
lowing year. He had hoped to go immedi- 
atei}^ to court, there to present his claims for his heavj^ 
financial arrears which had reduced him to posi- 
tive want, and for the restoration of his privileges so 
ruthlessly taken from him ; but his intense ph3^sical 
sufferings, aggravated b}^ the most severe winter in 
Spain within the memory of man, made the plan im- 
practicable. 

Financial embarrassment is hard enough at any 
time, and has done much to break down many a 
stout-hearted man ; but when it comes in old age and 
infirmity, aye, even in exhaustive illness, and is the re- 
sult of the most flagrant injustice, its trials can scarcel3'' 
be estimated. Columbus states in the most solemn 
manner, in a letter to his son, that his annual income 
at this time should not have been less than 10,000,000 
maravedis. Without attempting an}'- estimate, it is self- 
evident that it should at least have been a sufficient 
competenc}^ Having appropriated all he could collect 
at San Domingo for the comfort of his crews and for 
the homeward voyage, he was obliged to live on 
borrowed money as soon as he reached Spain, and to 
live in the most frugal manner. 

While the weary months of suffering dragged b}^, 
his chief occupation was the writing of letters, as he 



LETTERS OF THE ADMIRAL. 565 

lay almost helpless on his couch, and for this he was 
physically so incapacitated that the stiffness and pain 
in his hands would allow him the use of his pen onl}- 
at night. He wrote to Diego de Deza, his old, trust}^ 
friend, now high in ecclesiastical honors ; to Morales, 
the King's treasurer ; to the council of the famous 
Casa de Contra tacion^ instituted during his last voyage ; 
he wrote indirectly to the Bank of St. George in 
Genoa, through his trusty friend Oderigo ; to Gorricio, 
to the Pope, and to the King ; but most of his letters 
were to his son Diego. The}^ alone would make a fair- 
sized book. He wTote not only concerning his own 
personal matters, but in behalf of the deplorable state 
of affairs in the Indies, concerning the needy, ragged, 
and almost starving men who had sailed with him in 
his last voyage, and who were now beseeching the 
officers of the crown in vain for their pay, and he gave 
an almost endless category of good advice to Diego, 
his son. 

About this time he had become so thoroughly con- 
vinced of the fact that he could elicit no reply by means 
of his letters that he determined to be carried to the 
court, even at the risk of his life. He applied to the 
canons of Seville for the new mortuary litter, which 
had recently been used to carry Cardinal Mendoza to 
his grave. He might have it, they said, if Pinedo, 
treasurer of the navy, would be security for its return 
in good condition ! High appreciation there was in 
those days for the man who had staked all on the dis- 
covery of a new world. The litter was secured, but his 
health was so precarious and the weather so cold that 
his friends dissuaded him from an undertaking; so 
perilous to the life of one in his condition. 



566 



MESSENGERS GO TO COURT. 



November 26, 1504, Isabella, worn out with dis- 
ease contracted during the Moorish war, and over- 
whelmed by a series of the severest family afflictions, 
passed away. This was a most crushing bereavement 
to Columbus — the finishing stroke in the long series of 
his calamities. No doubt he comprehended his situa- 
tion. 

His failure to be carried to court, and the sad intel- 
ligence of the death of the Queen, induced him to send 
his brother Bartholomew, his son Fernando, and Car- 
vajal to plead his cause with the King before his ene- 
mies could have time to prejudice the royal mind and 
so secure a final determination of affairs against him. 

The bitterly severe winter had passed away, and the 
balmy days of spring so cheered the invalid that he de- 
termined to be carried to the court, then at Segovia. 
He arrived in May, well-nigh exhausted. Where are 
now the fawning courtiers who a few years ago, at 
Barcelona, would have waited for hours to touch his 
hand ? Ah, they are still here, but they worship the 
rising, not the setting sun ! 

And the King ! He smiles — on the surface — without 
enthusiasm, or even warmth. He listens to the recital 
of this perilous fourth voyage, but has very little to 
say. Nor is he at all moved by the portraj^al of the 
golden wealth of Veragua, or the detailed account of 
the cruel rebellion of Porras and his associates. Now 
Columbus becomes fully conscious of the wintry cold- 
ness of that court without the presence and influence 
of Isabella. 

A few days later Columbus itro/e to the King, pre- 
senting his grave claims respectfully, but most ear- 



AN ARBITRA TION SUGGESTED. 



567 



nestly. The reply was characteristic of Ferdinand's 
wily treacherousness. He knew how much Spain 
owed to Columbus ; but — but, there was so much im- 
plied in his claim — titles, governments, rights, ac- 
counts, indemnifications, and how man}^ other points ! 
— it would be necessary to submit the matter to the 
judgment of some very prudent and competent person. 
Who should this arbitrator be but Father Deza ? asked 
Columbus. Was he not a favorite of the King, and 
also his friend ? But in this arbitration the Admiral 
will have it explicitly understood that he submits only 
his rights and revenues, not his titles and prerogatives ; 
these had been fixed by royal decree, and confirmed — 
how manv times ? Nothing" more is known about the 
arbitration. The points to be submitted by the Ad- 
miral did not suit the King. Again and again the 
claims were pressed, and as often did the King smile, 
and acknowledge, and compliment, and promise to look 
into the matter ; " but as to doing anything," says Las 
Casas, " not only did he show Columbus no tokens of 
favor, but, on the other hand, placed every obstacle in 
his way, and at the same time was never remiss in 
complimentary expressions." 

The aged, suffering xA.dmiral is disheartened with 
pleading his rights on the grounds of justice ; he will 
leave all to the King's sense of fairness — his generosity, 
if you please. He will accept just what the King- 
chooses to give him, regardless of the facts and figures 
in the case ; onlj- he begs that the matter may be at- 
tended to promptly, that he may retire to some quiet 
corner for rest. Now Ferdinand waxes eloquent in 
acknowledgments. He knows but too well that he 



568 



H^/fA T MORE ? 



owes the Indies to Columbus, and he would not deprive 
him of the just dues for his services. He will not onl}- 
bestow upon him the rightful revenues coming to him, 
he will do more — will even compensate him out of the 
estates of the crown. 

What more than this could any one ask ? What 
more can the Admiral say, after so out-and-out a prom- 
ise ? What can he do but be carried around after the 
court on a litter, simply Avaiting for the fulfilment ? 
For months he follov/s and waits, but gets nothing be- 
yond " fine words " and " great regards." Finally the 
matter is referred to the tribunal of the dead Queen, 
and they know the mind of the King so well that they 
can simply hesitate and demur. " If Ferdinand could 
have done so with a quiet conscience and without 
disgracing his name, he would have utterly disregarded 
every privilege which he and the Queen had granted 
the Admiral, and which had been so justly merited." 
So thought Las Casas and others of his time. 

It is true, the outlook had immeasurably changed 
since the granting of the privileges of Columbus. ' 
Then, through a narrow loophole, the largest faith and 
the most intense enthusiasm might anticipate uncer- 
tain islands, and possibly pieces of continents. Now 
there were islands and continents, the richest and 
grandest — no one might conj ecture to what extent ; 
at any rate, Spain was a mere patch compared with 
them. Would it be wise to relegate such incalculable 
territories to a foreigner and his descendants forever ? 
This surely was too much for a penurious, ambitious 
soul like that of Ferdinand to give away. In this 
case, at least, it was no mere matter of keeping one's 



HOPE DEFERRED. 



569 



word, like him " who sweareth to his own hurt aud 
chaugeth not." But O heavens, and O earth ! could 
not somethijig have been done ? Must this greatest 
benefactor of Spain and of the world — this begetter of a 
new era in the world's history — drag out his days 
a mere mendicant on a litter, and die a pauper ? Can 
the King of Spain do nothing whatever to save him- 
self from the foulest perjury and the blackest ingrati- 
tude ? 

This anxious waiting and sore disappointment were 
telling heavily on the suffering Admiral. Helpless 
and hopeless, he sank upon a sick-bed at Valladolid. 
" It is a matter that concerns my honor," he wrote to 
the King ; " your Majest}^ niay do as you think proper 
with all the rest ; give or take, as may appear for your 
advantage, and I shall be satisfied. I believe that the 
worry caused by the delay of my suit is the main 
cause of my ill-health." 

Columbus finally gave up his own personal claims, 
and simpl}^ interceded with the King, along with his 
son, for the rights of the family. " The more they 
appealed to him the more favorabl}- he replied," says 
Las Casas, " but he always continued his system of 
putting them off, in the hope of tiring out their 
patience, and making them renounce their privileges 
and accept titles and; estates in Castile in compensation 
for them." In f"act, some such offer was made, but 
Columbus was never a man to be bought off from his 
clearly conceived or explicith' stipulated rights. 
'* I have done all that I can do," he wrote pitifully to 
Deza:; i"[^I,leave the rest to God. He has always sus- 
tained me in extremities." 



570 -^ STRANGE DECREE. 

During the last winter of the Admiral's life Ferdi- 
nand issued the following decree : 

" The King : As I am informed that you, Chris. 
Colon, the Admiral, are in poor bodily health, owing 
to certain diseases which you have had or have, and 
that you cannot ride on horseback without great 
injury to your health ; therefore, conceding this to 
your advanced age, I, by these presents, grant you 
license to ride on a mule, saddled and bridled, through 
whatever parts of these kingdoms or realms you wish 
and choose, notwithstanding the law which I issued 
in regard thereto ; and command the justices of all 
parts of these kingdoms and realms not to offer you 
any impediment, or allow any to be offered to you, 
under penalty of ten thousand maravedis in behalf of 
the treasur}^ on whoever does the contrary. 

" Given in the city of Toro, Feb. 23rd, 1505." 

This enactment is at once an indication of the infirm 
condition of Columbus and of the peculiarly t3'ran- 
nical laws of the time, which, finding horses too scarce 
in Spain for the emergencies of war, had laid restric- 
tions on the domestic uses of the mule, hoping thereby 
to increase the number of horses. 

During the very last days of the Admiral there was 
a gleam of hope. The Infanta Juana, with her hus- 
band, the Archduke Philip, had arrived from Flanders 
to take possession of the kingdom of Castile. Might 
there not be found in the daughter some likeness to 
the great soul of her mother ? When the King and 
all the court went to Laredo to meet the new Queen, 
Columbus Avas unable to gratify his heart's strongest 
wish to accompany- them, for a violent relapse had 



THE NEW ^UE EN. 571 

laid him lower than ever. His brother Bartholomew 
was sent to represent him, with a letter of regret from 
him at not being able to congratulate the new 
sovereigns in person, and asking to be counted among 
their most faithful subjects. Though now in such great 
suffering, he still cherished the hope of rendering 
them some signal service. Moreover, he hoped by 
them to be restored to his honors and estates, which 
had been so unfairly taken from him. 

On the 7th of May the sovereigns arrived, and in a 
fews days received Don Bartholomew with great kind- 
ness. The claims of the Admiral were well considered, 
and once more fair promises were made. But the 
adelantado had scarcely left him when it became 
evident that he was nearing his end — was about to 
make his last voyage. He accordingly addressed him- 
self to the last duties of life. The codicil to his will, 
found in 1779, and dated May 4, 1506, written on the 
blank page of a breviary given to him by Pope Alex- 
ander VI, a great comfort to him in battles, captivities, 
and misfortunes, is probably apocryphal. 

May 19th he ratified his will, formally drawn up in 
his own hand some time before. Diego was made his 
heir. If he failed of heirship, the estate was to vest 
in Fernando, who, in default of heirs, should be suc- 
ceeded by the adelantado. If these all failed of male 
descendants, the inheritance was to pass to the female 
line in similar succession. He had continued loyal to 
the Spanish sovereigns through all the wrongs he had 
suffered, and now he enjoined upon his descend- 
ants the utmost fidelity. They must relieve all dis- 
tressed relatives and others in poverty. Some one of 



572 



GRATITUDE. 



his lineage must represent the family in Genoa. 
Diego' must have special regard for the needs of his 
brother and uncle. When the resources of the estate 
would admit, he must erect a chapel in the Vega 
Real of Hispaniola, where masses may be maintained 
for his repose and that of the souls of other mem- 
bers of the family. The crusade for the recovery of 
the Holy Sepulchre was also remembered, and Dona 
Beatrix Knriquez. It will be seen at once that this is, 
to all intents and purposes, the will of 1496. 

After signing the codicil of his will, dul}- witnessed, 
he showed his fine sense of gratitude by noting in 
his own hand small sums which his heirs were to pay 
to the various persons who, at different times in his 
life, had rendered him small services. 

Having thus fulfilled the final duties of this life, he 
sought the consolations of religion. With the calm- 
ness and resignation of hope, he awaited the great 
transition from this world to the unknown. His last 
words were those of Christ on the cross — " Into thy 
hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." Thus ended 
the most eventful life this side of the Christian era, 
May 20, 1506. 

The commonly received opinion, that the Admiral 
was first entombed in the Franciscan convent in 
Valladolid, may be regarded as probable, but is with- 
out any certain evidence ; and according to the will of 
his son Diego, 1509, it would seem that his father's 
remains had already been deposited in the vault of the 
Carthusians in the Las Cuevas convent of Seville. 
It seems to have been the conviction of the Columbus 
family that the Admiral had a preference for Hayti as 



THE ADMIRAL'S REMAINS. 



57?> 



his final resting-place, and his remains were removed 
there, probably, about 1541, soon after the completion 
of the cathedral. As early, however, as 1536, the 
roeords of the convent show them to have been given 
up for transportation, though it is only on June 2, 
1537, that the first ro3^al order was given for their 
removal. Strange to sa}^, that order was repeated on 
the 2 2d of August, 1539, and again on the 5th of 
November, 1540. As to where the remains could have 
been from 1536 till 1541, or after, we have no informa- 
tion. 

There is no record, made at the time, to show the 
exact placing of the body of Columbus in the San 
Domingo cathedral. In 1676 some one recorded that 
it had been deposited on the right of the altar ; and in 
1683 the recollections of aged people were quoted to 
that effect. About a centur}'' later, when certain re- 
pairs were being made, a vault was found on the '' gos- 
pel " or left side of the chancel, tradition alljr held to 
contain the remains of the Admiral, while another was 
found on the " epistle " or right side, supposed to con- 
tain those of his brother Bartholomew. 

In 1795, when the treaty of Basle gave the San Dom- 
ingo half of the island to the French, the Spanish au- 
thorities, along w4th the Duke of Veragua as the lineal 
descendant of Columbus, concluded to remove the re- 
mains to Havana ; and the vault on the left hand or 
" gospel " side was opened, according to the above tra- 
dition, but contrary to the first known record. " Within 
were found the fragments of a leaden cof&n, a number 
of bones, and a quantity of mould, evidentlj^ the re- 
mains of a human body. These were carefully col- 



574 



THE ADMIRAL'S REMAINS. 



lected and put in a case of gilded lead, about half an 
ell in length and breadth, and a third in height."^ 
With indescribable pomp and ceremony, the remains 
were conveyed to Havana. It is now claimed, however, 
that these remains were not those of the Admiral, but 
of Diego, his son. 

" In 1877, in making some changes about the chan- 
cel, on the right of the altar, the workmen opened a 
vault, and found a leaden case containing human bones, 
with an inscription showing them to be those of Luis, 
the grandson. This led to a search on the opposite or 
' gospel side ' of the chancel, where they found an empty 
vault, supposed to be the one from which the remains 
were taken to Havana. Between this and the side wall 
of the building, and separated from the empty vault 
by a six-inch wall, was found another cavity, and in it 
a leaden case. There seem to have been suitable pre- 
cautions taken to avoid occasion for imputations of de- 
ceit, and with witnesses the case was examined. In it 
were found some bones and dust, a leaden bullet, two 
iron screws, which fitted the holes in a small silver 
plate found beneath the mould in the bottom of the 
case. This casket bore on the outside, on the front 
and two ends — one letter on each surface — the letters 
C. C. A."^ An inscription on the top is supposed to 
mean " Discoverer of America, first Admiral." On the 
under side of the lid was a legend, translated, " Illus- 
trious and renowned man, Christopher Columbus." 
An inscription on the silver plate is rendered, " A part 
of the remains of the first Admiral, Don Christopher 
Columbus, discoverer." 



1 Irving's Life and Voyages of Columbus. 

* Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. 2. p. 81. 



THE ADMIRAL'S REMAINS. 



575 



A discussion followed, which it would be useless to 
attempt to describe within our limits. The Spaniards 
are well convinced that they have the remains of the 
famous Admiral in Havana, but a careful examination 
of the disclosures of 1877, ^^ the Cathedral of San 
Domingo, can leave but little doubt as to the remains 
of the great Admiral being still there. Indeed, the 
last shadow of doubt would seem to be removed b}^ the 
painstaking investigations made b}^ that famous 
German explorer, Cronau, at San Domingo in 1890. 
He believes the much-debated inscriptions on the 
casket in question to have been cut in the sixteenth 
century, and is conclusive in his conviction that the 
remains of Columbus are still at San Domingo. The 
corroded musket-ball found in the casket, he 
regards as a marked evidence of identity in respect 
to the remains. We have no account, indeed, of the 
Admiral being wounded, but in a letter from Jamaica 
to the sovereigns he speaks of his w^ound breaking 
out afresh. On the whole it would seem that as in 
Columbus's lifetime the Spaniards had tried to get 
rid of him and his claims without accomplishing their 
aim, so now, after trying in the most signal manner 
to retain the prestige of the last and least remains 
of his dead body, they have probably incurred an 
equall}^ ignominious failure. 

It is well known that the chains in which Columbus 
was sent to Spain by Bobadilla he kept as a memorial 
of his wrongs, and intended the}^ should go with him into 
his coffin ; but as no such chains, not even in the form 
of oxide of iron, have been in any of the supposed 
caskets, may it not be that his veritable remains are 



576 



HIS MONUMENT. 



yet to be identified ? But wherever the spot ma}^ be, 
of which in respect to the great Admiral we may say, 
" Dust to dust, and ashes to ashes," the New World — 
that is, one-half the c^lobe — is his monument. 

Summing up the question of the possession of the 
remains of Columbus, we feel at liberty to disclose, 
at this time and in this place, two facts which may 
anticipate and conclude future action in the prem- 
ises. We have been informed by controlling if not 




THE HOUSE IN WHICH COLUMBUS DIED. 



actually of&cial parties in the management of the 
Columbian Exposition at Chicago that onh^ a proper 
and legitimate appropriation of sufficient funds was 
needed to accomplish the transfer of the alleged 
remains of Columbus from vSan Domingo to Chicago. 
We have also had assurance of the significant fact 
that the chains which Columbus's son describes in his 
memoirs of his father, and which he says were kept 



MUNIMENTS AND REMAINS. 



577 



hanging in his bed-chamber, are still preserved and 
said to be, if we are not mistaken, in the hands of a 
party in Genoa, from whom they can be obtained 
upon like conditions as the muniments and alleged 
remains from San Domingo. If these are to be 
forthcoming, they will probably be added to the 
copious body of relics to be exhibited in the replica of 
the Convent of La Rabida, now in course of construc- 
tion on the shores of Lake Michigan, during the 
present celebration. 



_»'x'sr\ 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Aguado, Juan 306, 310, 311 

Alexander VI .171 

Alfraganus 35 

Alhambra 69, 175 

All Saints, Convent of. 31 

Alligators 254, 486 

Alphonso, King 27, 37 

Amazons 317 

Anacaona 283,353, 3.';4' 3^3 

her treasures 364, 365 

her inelancholvfate 523-527 

Arana, Diego de 137, 195 

Arana, Pedro de 329 

Archives of Milan 293 

of Venice 29 

Aristotle 36, 43 

Astrolabe 47 

Augustine, St 59 

Azores 26, 44, 153, 156 

Babeque 119, 125, 126, 243 

Bacon, Roger 43 

Balboa 450 

Ballester, Miguel 389, 396, 397 

Bank of St. George, letter to, 

456, 457 

Barcelona 164, 166, 319 

Bastidas 450 

Behaim, Martin 35, 47 

Behechio 353, 354, 362, 363 

Bel vis, Pablo 309 

Benjamin, Rabbi 47 

Beradi 175 

Bernaldez, Andres 3, 8 

frequently cited. 

Blood-hounds 245, 282, 503 

Bobadilla 428, 431-446, 448-450, 

463. 552 

Bojador 25, 26 

Breviesco Ximeno 326, 327, 427 

Brazil 34 

Bristol, England 291 

Brown, Rawdon 29 

Buil, Father. 203, 274, 305, 306, 319 

Butterflies 257 

Cabot, John 291, 297 

Cabot. Sebastian.. 292, 298, 300, 302 

Cabral 34, 450 

Cadiz 176, 318, 452 

Calzadilla 48, 50 



Page. 
Canary Islands.. 82-84, 178,329,462 

Canoe, Royal 265 

Caonabo..."..i93, 195, 233, 236, 275, 
277, 278, 315.317. 318, 320 

Cape Good Hope 27 

Cape Nam 24 

Cape Not — 25 

Cape de Verde Islands. ...26, 50, 280 

Carvajal 329, 387, 388, 391, 395, 

396, 398, 402, 404, 451, 566 

Cassaneuva 18 

Catalina 314 

Cedo, Firmin 221, 222, 309 

Ceuta 49, 50 

Chanca, Dr 177 

frequently cited. 

Cibao 129, 130 

Cipango 82, 130 

Columbus, Bartholomew 18, 30, 

63, 65, 271, 272, 279, 282, 290, 
310, 311, 314, 318, 323. 350, 351. 
355' 358. 366-374, 378-384. 460 
Columbus, Christopher: 

his portrait 7-9 

birthplace 13 

date of birth 14-16 

parentage 17, iS 

education 20-22 

early life 22, 23 

on the bridge of pines 75 

his privileges 75~77 

his humiliation 431-446 

death 572 

remains 573-576 

Columbus, Diego, the brother... 18, 
177, 223, 273, 274, 280, 308, 351, 
366-369 
Columbus, Diego, the son. ...31, 32, 
33, 65-67, 456, 565 
Columbus, Diego, the Indian in- 
terpreter 191, 371 

Columbus, Fernando 4,5, 27,63 

frequently cited. 

Colombo, Juan Antonio 329 

Code Diplomaticus 5 

Compass 47 

Cordova 56 

Corn 116 

Coronal 372-375 



58o 



INDEX, 



Correo, Pedro 32 

Curtis, Wm. Elory 7 

D'Ailly, Cardinal 43 

same as Uiaco. 

Darien, Isthmus of 35, 48S 

Decurions of Genoa 454 

Deza, Diego 61, 565 

Diaz, Bartholomew 63, 271 

Diaz, Bernal 221-223 

Diaz, Miguel 313 

Dominica 181 

Eclipse 534-536 

Emanuel, Victor 454 

Enriquez, Beatrix 63, 64 

Escobar, Diego de 416, 537, 538 

Esquibel 555, 560 

Eugenius IV, Pope 37-40 

Ferdinand, King 56,61. 164. 167, 

169, 170, 173, 427, 42S, 446, 449 

Fernandez, Garcia 55, 67 

Ferrar, Jajme 328 

Fiesco, Bartholomew. .518, 522, 545 

Fire and Faggot 359 

Fish catch fish 249, 250 

Fiske, John. ..7, 51, 54, 442, 443, 4z|S 

Fonseca..i74, 175, 326, 405, 412, 413, 

427, 444, 446 

Gama, Vasco de 451, 459 

Genoa 12, 30, 53, 54 

Geraldini brothers 57 

Gibraltar, Straits of. 26 

Giovio, Paolo 9 

Giustiniani 2 

Gold, famous nugget of 464 

Golden Chersonesus...257, 258, 451 

Good Hope, Cape of 63 

Goodrich, Aaron 6 

Gorbolan 212, 221 

Gracios a Dios, Cape 473 

Granada surrenders 69 

Grand Khan 40, 47 

Guacanagari. 128, 131-139, 191-195, 

197-205, 275, 276, 282, 288, 289 

Guadaloupe 182 

Guanahani 98 

Guarionex....276, 277,351,358-362, 
370, 375-384 

Guevara 418-421, 435, 436 

Guinea 46 

Harrisse...!, 13, 14, 19, 43, 55, 291, 
300 -304 

Hayna 318, 335, 351, 357 

Hayti 119 

Helps, Sir Arthur 58 

cited. 

Henry VII 64, 65, 271, 290 

Herons, great white 254 

Herrera 180 

frequently cited. 



Page. 

Hibernia 294 

Higuay 555^561 

Hispaniola 119 

Holy Sepulchre 62,63 

Honduras, coast of. 269, 473 

Humboldt 2, 36, 173 

cited. 

Hurricane or furicane 312 

Hurricane 465-467 

Iceland, Columbus's voyage to. ..33 

Iceland 295 

Iguana 241 

Imago Mundi 43 

Indies, wealth of. 58 

Isabella, Queen 56, 61, 63, 67, 68, 

74, 164, 167, 175, 176, 428, 434, 
446, 566 

Jamaica 244-246, 513-545 

John II 52, 63, 156, 159, 162, 173 

Joseph 48 

Juan, Prince 322, 326 

Juana, Princess 322 

Kublai Khan 36, 112, 113 

Lactantius 59 

La Cosa, Juan de 177, 413, 450 

La Navidad 136, 192-195 

La Rabida 51, 55, 65-68 

Las Casas 3, 4, 8 

frequently cited. 

Madeira 26 

Maiobanex 147, 375-384. 409, 

41S-421 

Maize 116 

Major, R H 6 

cited. 

Malacca 257 

Mandeville 36 

Manicaotex 282, 283 

Manacles 278 

Mangi 35, 251 

Mangon 251 

Marchina, Antonio 55 

Margarita 273, 274, 305 

Margarita of Austria 322 

Margarite....23o, 233, 236, 273, 274, 

319 
Marinus of Tyre 34 

Martin, Andres 445 

Martyr, Peter 3 

often cited. 

Mateo, Juan 351 

Mastic 114 

Medina Celi, Duke of 64 

Meteor on outward voyage 87 

Mendez, Diego. ...445, 497-500, 510, 

511, 514-522, 545 

Mendoza, Cardinal 57, 169, 170 

Mermaids 144 



INDEX. 



581 



Page. 

Mexico 469, 471 

Moors, conquest of. 56-58 

Moxica 406, 418 422 

Mufioz 5 

Mutiny 90 

Navarrete 5 

cited. 

Nifia 79, 140, 150, 163 

Nifio, Pedro Alonzo...322, 352, 449 

No variation, line of 172 

Ocean currents 346, 347 

Oderigo, Nicolo 456 

Ojeda 177, 187, 212, 235-237, 

277-279. 4H-418, 449 

Ophir 314, 321,323 

Orinoco 334 

Ovando, Nicholas de 42S-430 

Oviedo 3 

cited. 

Palos 65-68, 77, 163 

Paria, Gulf of 337 

Pasqualigo 292 

Pear^hape of earth 347, 348 

Pear's 340-345 

Perestello, Captain 31 

Perestello, Filipa 31 

Perez, Juan 55, 66-68, 77 

Philip, Archduke of Austria 322 

Pilot, storj of 32 

Pinta 79, 83, 84, 137, 141, 142, 

148-150, 164 

Pinzons 77, 78 

Pinzon, Martin Alonzo, deserts, 

67, 117, 141, 142, 147, 164 

Pinzon, Vicente Yanez 79, 380, 

449' 450 
Pliny 36 

Polo, Marco 36 

Ponce de Leon 177 

Pope's line 279, 280 

Porras brothers. ...527-533, 540-543 

Porto Rico 147, 191 

Porto Santo 26, 31, 45 

Portugal 24-26, 53, 61 

Potato 114 

Puerto Bello 484 

Ptolemy 34, 44 

Quintanilla, Alonzo de..57, 62,70, 74 

Quibian, the 494, 495, 497, 504, 

506, 507 

Raimondo 293 

Rastelo 158. 159 

Rebellion in Vega 283 

Repartimientos 406, 407 

Requelnie 409' 4^0' 435) 436 

Rock, the great 82 

Rodrigo 48 



Page. 

Roldan, Francis.. .366, 368-370, 374, 

385-410, 411-417- 418-422, 463 

Salamanca 34 

council of 58 

Samana 146 

San Christoval 351 

Sanchez, Juan 501, 502 

San Domingo 314, 353 

San Lucar 328, 548 

San Salvador 98 

Santangel, Louis de 68, 72-74 

Santa F^ 68 

Santa Maria 79 

wrecked 130-132 

Saragossa Sea 88 

Savona 54 

Sea of Darkness 82 

Seneca 36 

Seneca, the Poet 43 

Sidonia, Duke of 64, 175 

Sierra Leone 26, 349 

Slavery of the Natives. 217-220, 280, 

281 

St. Elmo's lights 180 

Strabo 36 

Tagus 158, 159 

Tails, Men with 253 

Talavera 57, 59, 69, 70 

Talking Metal 277 

Tarducci 60, 61, 64, 442 

Tartary 251 

Taxation of Indians .^.284, 285 

Teneriffe 84 

Tongue cut 259 

Tobacco 116 

Torres 279, 326 

Tortugas 125 

Toscanelli 36 42, 89 

Trade-winds 88 

Triana, Rodrigo de 95, 96 

Trinidad 332, 334, 337, 339 

Tristan, Diego 504, 506 

Valladolid 572 

Variation of Compass 86, 87 

Vega Real 224-228, 282 

Venice applied to 53, 54 

Venetian galleys 27-30 

Veragua 480, 482, 492-494 

Veragua, Duke of 51, 573 

War with Natives 281, 282 

Water Spout 490 

Watling 98 

Winsor, Justin 6 

cited. 

Yucatan 469 

Zemi 230, 359 



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